Final Fantasy VII: Lost Advent Child
Chapter 5
*11:36 that night….*
Rude, Hela, and the others decided to go to bed at least an hour and a half earlier. Reno, however, was wide awake. He turned to lie on his side, then turned over again, restless. He still felt guilty for the way he had unintentionally treated Yumi that morning. He had been up waiting to hear her walk to her room, but she hadn't shown up yet. He was beginning to worry something was wrong.
'Should I get up and go see what's taking her so long?' Reno asked himself. He pondered this for a moment then decided to go to the lab. He got out of bed, dressed, and found his way downstairs.
As he opened the door to the lab, someone else was walking out. They ran into one another and the other person fell down. Reno began to apologize as he went to see who he had knocked over.
Yumi moved her hair out of her face to see who had knocked her down. When she saw Reno, she glared at him stubbornly. "What are you doing here?"
Reno straightened up quickly. "Uh… Well, it's really late and um…You hadn't shown up yet… And I was wondering where you were, so I came looking for you because I wanted to say sorry for earlier and…" He paused, then took a breath so he could continue.
Yumi stared at him, confused. "There's more? I thought what you said pretty much summed up why you're here. Unless you were…" Yumi blushed slightlywhen realization dawned on her. She turned her face away quickly, making her bangs fall in her face.
Reno knelt down next to Yumi. "Hey, don't do that. I can't see your face anymore." He gently placed a hand under Yumi's chin and lifted her face up, carefully brushing Yumi's bangs out of her vision. "And, I, uh…I was really worried about you." There was a slight strain in his voice and Yumi knew that's what he wanted to say before she interrupted. She watched as his face changed to curiosity as he tilted his head to one side. "Is that the outfit from yesterday? The one they put you in after the heat stroke?"
Yumi looked down at herself. "Oh, yeah, it's the same outfit. I had another minor heat stroke today. I'm still not one hundred percent okay, but I am getting better. Now I have to take one pill a day from this bottle." She held up a new bottle of smaller pills. "They said I should head to bed. I think we have a new mission tomorrow."
"If we do, Tseng will tell us." Said Reno as he got to his feet. "Here, let me help you up." He pulled her up to her feet quickly. A bit too quickly: Yumi ran right into Reno's chest. She stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do or how to react, the looked up at Reno shyly.
"Uh…sorry Reno…" She took a step back, hoping he didn't see her blush. "We should get going," she said in a small voice as she began walking down the hallway. Reno followed suit, walking next to her. After a few long moments of awkward silence, Reno noticed that Yumi was shivering slightly.
"Yumi, are you cold?"
"Oh no, I'm fine." Yumis eyes went to the floor.
She paused in front of the elevator door, pushing the button to go up.
"Yumi, you can't go in the elevator dressed like that." Reno insisted as he looked pointedly at her outfit.
"Why cant I?"
"Because it's a well lit glass elevator and you can see anyone who steps into it from at least five blocks away."
"Oh. I forgot about that."
"Here, take my jacket. You must be freezing in that thing." He slipped off his jacked as he said this.
"No, not really."
"And I guess that explains why you're covered in goose bumps."
"Shut up and give me your jacket." Reno maneuvered behind Yumi and helped her slip the jacket over her shoulders. Reno's jacket may have been a little too big on him, but it was way too big on Yumi. The hem of the jacket went all the way to Yumis mid-thigh and the sleeves covered her hands completely. She smiled at Reno. "It's really warm. And for too big for me." She continued to smile as she wrapped the jacket closer around her. "I kind of feel like I'm wearing a tent."
"Hey, I'm not that big! Besides, you look cute in that jacket." The elevator door opened before she had the chance to respond to his comment. "Ladies first," he murmured, bowing as he moved out of the way so she could enter the elevator. Yumi wobbled slightly as Reno got in. "Yumi, you alright?"
"Oh yeah, I'm ok. The scientists said the change in pills may give me nausea and I might be prone to dizziness and possible hallucinations. Its not like it's something I haven't been expecting," she stumbled as the elevator lurched on its climb upward. Reno careful put his hands on her shoulders, standing her up straight so she wouldn't sway anymore. She allowed her head to gently fall onto his chest as the dizziness took over. "Ok, I lied; I'm not ok. I think I'm gonna be sick."
Reno blushed as Yumi buried her face in his chest, her body pressing up against his. "U-uh, would you rather take the stairs?"
"No, I think I'll be alright. I just need to lean on something and rest for a moment."
Reno stood there, unsure of what else to do. The lights in the elevator began to flicker. Reno looked up at the lights when the elevator came to a sudden halt. "What the hell is going on?!"
"Quite Reno. My head hurts… And the cannons and gunfire are only making it worse…"
Pause... "What are you talking about?"
"You know what Reno? I love you like a fat kid loves cake." She smiled happily.
Reno's face twisted into a look of pure confusion. "What the fuck is wrong with you!?"
"Nothing," Yumi replied with a giggle. "But you know what? You also taste better than cake." The corners of her mouth twisted up into a sexy smile.
Reno's expression only grew more confused as embarrassment began to slowly settle in. "What the hell? When did you find that out?!"
Yumi tilted her head to one side, the seductive smile growing wider. "Oh, that was when I was drugged. I know you remember that. You were trying with all your might to hold me down Reno. Then you grabbed my wrists so tightly in your hands…" Yumi pinned Reno to the side of the elevator with her body, pressing herself fully against Reno. "Remember that Reno?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper. "Then you laid down right on top of me…" Yumi quickly knocked Reno's legs from under him so he fell right on top of her. As he reached out to break his fall with his hands, Yumi moved her wrists up so he was forced to grab hold of them. "Just like this, right? And then you…" Yumi leaned up and kissed him.
Panicking, Reno quickly stood up, moving as far away from Yumi as possible. He looked away from her when he saw how she looked sprawled out on the elevator floor, his jacket open and practically falling off her body. "Yumi, m-maybe you need to take some different pills."
"Maybe I should stop forgetting to take my medicine." Her voice had changed completely. Reno looked down to see Yumi had rolled onto her side, her face growing pale with sickness. "I have a headache." She groaned. "You need to stop yelling so much Reno…"
"You didn't take your medicine?" Reno asked.
"No, I did but I feel really sick. I was about five minutes late for my last. They said I would be sick and acting funny… And how did I get on the floor?"
"What? You don't remember!?" Reno asked, squatting down next to her.
"Remember what?" Yumi asked, her eyes shifting to look up at him.
"Uh…." Reno hesitated a moment, then decided it was best not to tell her the truth. "You passed out right after the elevator stopped."
"And why were you nearly clinging to the wall earlier?"
"No reason." He replied quickly. "Anyway, we should try to get this elevator moving so we can get you some rest."
"Alright." Yumi said, slowly starting to sit up. The elevator suddenly flew up to the top floor at an outrageous speed. Reno practically fell on top of Yumi again as the elevator came to a halt. "What the fuck was that?!" Yumi yelled.
"I don't know." Reno replied in a shaky voice. "But now were on the top floor."
There was a brief pause before Yumi answered. "Reno, if it just shot straight up, you don't think it would shoot straight down do you?"
Almost as if on cue, the floor shifted beneath them slightly before the elevator shot down all the way to the basement. Yumi and Reno screamed at the top of their lungs all the way down. Then it went back up. Then back down. Back up. Back down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Soon the elevator began to just move between random floors at an unpredictable pattern, still constantly moving up and down.
"Who-the-hell-is-doing-this?!" yelled Reno between shouts.
"A-aw, Reno, your-so-smart! You've actually gotten smart enough to realize that someone's doing this to us on purpose. H-how sweet!" Yumi could barely speak past the screaming, but she did manage.
"Yumi!" Reno yelled exasperatedly as Yumi gave him a sexy smile. "Never be late for your dose of medicine ever again!"
"Whatever you say cutie!"
"Yumi, cut it out!" He yelled and he pried Yumis hands off of him.
"Cut what out?!" Yumi yelled as she struggled to grab onto anything to steady herself in the moving chaos.
"Nevermind!" Reno said as he was thrown backwards by another random floor change.
"Reno?" Yumi said quietly.
"Yeah?" He said, looking over at her with concern as he struggled to hold onto the hand railing.
"I think I'm going to be sick!" She yelled as the floor dropped yet again.
"No, don't!" Reno yelled, panicking.
"I can't exactly stop myself if I start in this thing!"
"Oh god, somebody stop this crazy thing!" Reno yelled.
The elevator instantly stopped. It even stopped on the floor that their rooms were on.
Reno and Yumi laid there for a moment, afraid to move. Yumi finally managed to muster the courage to say, "Reno, is it over?"
"God I hope so." Reno said, carefully letting go of the handrail.
The elevator door opened. Hela stared down at Reno and Yumi, face as neutral as ever. They were tangled in a heap on the bottom of the elevator floor.
"You two are rather sad, you know that?" Said Hela.
"You were the one doing that!?!" yelled Reno, voice growing angry.
"Isn't it obvious?" When she saw Reno was too angry to reply; she turned away. "You really are stupid. I'm going to bed." She started to walk away.
"Why the hell were you up anyway?!" Reno demanded.
Hela stopped before looking over her shoulder at them. "Just making sure my toys put themselves away properly. Yumi has a mission tomorrow. She needs her rest. Don't want her all worn out now do we? Goodnight." She said as she left.
"But-" Reno didn't have time to finish as Yumi kicked him in the gut as she got up and sprinted past him where she proceeded to gag into the nearest garbage can. He panicked as he ran to follow her. "Yumi, are you alright?"
"Do I look and or seem fucking alright to you!?!" she managed to say before she started up again.
"Well, not exactly…" he said, sweat-dropping as he pulled a napkin out of his pocket for her to use.
She gratefully took it from him as she wiped off her mouth. "Then don't ask stupid questions!" she snapped. "Get your ass over here and take me to my room! Now Reno!"
She yelled as he chuckled slightly at her antics.
"Yes Yumi." He said as he picked her up. "You need sleep; You're really cranky."
"Just take me to bed," She murmured, exhausted.
Reno did as he was told then went to bed, wondering if Yumi would ever get better.