Upon Arriving in Wutai the three Turks checked into the inn in town. The rest of the day was spent exploring Wutai since Elena had never been there before. That night found Reno lying awake well past the time Rude and Elena had gone to bed. He tossed and turned all night long. He finally fell asleep about 6 am.
Elena was the first to wake up at about 8. She decided she'd be nice and make breakfast for her to comrades. Rude came stumbling down the steps about 8:15, with Reno comming not even five minutes later.
"Reno you look like shit!" Rude commented.
"Couldn't sleep." Reno addmitted.
"Wanna talk about it?" Rude asked.
"Later" Reno answered with a meaningful look at Elena.
"Breakfast is ready" Elena said.
The three sat down to eat a breakfast of eggs, sausage, ham, bacon, toast and potatoes. "Mmmm Elena you're such a good cook" Reno complimented.
"Thank you." She replied, "So what are you two doing today?"
Reno and Rude looked at each othern and then in unison replied, "Climbing Da Chao."
Elena scrunched up her face and asked, "Why on earth would you want to do that?"
"Tradition" Rude stated simply.
"First day in Wutai is spentclimbing Da Chao, wheather you're working or on vacation. It cleanses the soul, supposedly." Reno elaborated.
"That's really insightful, especially comming from you, Reno." Elena said slightly surprised by the answer.
"I can be deep" Reno said pouting. "Plus as an added bonus there's this awesome cave up there, you've got to see it."
"Ok so Da Chao it is, We leaving now or what?" Elena asked.
"In a bit, can you pack a lunch for us all, while Rude and I get water in town for the hike." Asked Reno.
"Sure." Elena said.
"Ok Reno whats wrong? Don't say nothing because you hardly slept last night, you haven't eaten much of anything in the past couple of days and you took sleeping pills ealier this week. Now I'm not stopping you from that but you know what they can do to you." Rude said
"Remember my last mission?" Reno asked.
Rude nodded, "Sector 7."
Right well it's been bothering me ever since. All those people, all those families, I destroyed them all. My sister, I murdered my sister. What kind of brother, murders his sister for his job?" Reno asked.
"You didn't drop the platem remember. Tseng pressed the actual detonation button." Rud ereminded Reno.
"Oh cut the bullshit Rude. I didn't try to stop it. Ever heard of Guilty by association?" Reno answered. "I could have refused to have any par tin the mission, and got her the hell out of there."
"Then you'd both be dead Reno. Tseng would have dropped the plate either way. Tseng put his life on the line for you."
By this time the two had reached the store, They entered the store, bought the water, and then lef tin silence. They didn't want their conversation overheard by anyone in the store.
"But Rude I" began Reno.
"No buts, had you flat out refused the job more people would have been killed. Not only that but the impromptu phone call you made, probably saved a lot of people. You and I both know she probably tried to save as many people as she could, and that's why she didn't heed your warning and get out. She was busy saving everyone else." Rude said cutting Reno off.
"Wonderful thanks man, I'm the villain and she's the hero along with Avalanche." Reno said grimly.
"I won't lie Reno, you know that. You did tear up almost every family on Gaia, but had anyone else done it, the disaster would have been worse, because there wouldn't have been a warning." Rude said.
""Yeah but then Avalanche would be dead, the mission wouldn't of been botched and my sister would be alive" Reno rationalized.
"Avalanche would have gotten out somehow. They're sneaky little bastards." Rude said.
The two had finally reached the door to their room. Rud eopened it and they walked in continuing their conversation forgetting Elena was in the room.
"No Rude, they'd of been done in, and this mess would be over with. We'd be dealing with Sephiroth now, not him and Avalanche." Reno replied.
"Maybe, maybe not, but we'll never know now. What was it you told the rookie Turks after the Neblhiem cover up? I believe it went like this:
'The past is the past, ain't nothing you can do to change it. Ya just gotta keep moving forward 'cause otherwise you'll keep going crazy if you keep thinkin about what could have been. I think those were your exact words." Rude stated.
"I'm not thinking what could have been, I'm thinking about the awful thing I did." Reno said.
"No, you're thinking what could have been had you not done that awful thing." Elena stated. "If it helps I forgive you for what you did now that I know how sorry you are for dropping that plate.
"What's it matter if you forgive me? You didn't lose anyone in the incident, did you?" Reno spat out realizing Elena probably didn't know he wasn't the one who dropped the plate nor that he lost his sister at the same time, not that he'd tell her that.
"On the contrary, I lost my brother and his two daughters." Elena replied.
Reno's mouth dropped and had Rude's sunglasses been off you'd of seen his eyes bugging out.. "I...I didn't know, I'm sorry Elena. If it helps I...I killed my sister in that incident." Reno said sadly.
It doesn't help, just makes me feel bad for you, but thank you for your sympathy." Elena said.
Reno's face suddenly brightened a she said, "Let's forget this sad stuff, we got to climb Da Chao today," with that he grabbed the basket Elena had prepared and rushed out of the house with a bewildered Elena following. Rude followed close behind Elena with the water he and Reno hadjust bought.
"That's his way of saying he doesn't want to talk about this anymore with you, atleast for now. He'll open up again later. Although next time don't be sympathetic, Reno doesn't want sympathy he wants the truth, no matter how painful it may be." Rude said quietly to Elena.
Elena nodded and spent a rather enjoyable day at Da Chao. Reno's face lit up at the cave of flames. Elena enjoyed the view at the very top of the mountain and Rude enjoyed watching Reno enjoy himself for once.
The following dayw as spent shopping as it was Elena's turn to decide what to do. Although Reno chose where they ate. He took his comrads to a small authentic Wutain Restaurant.
Upon entering the hostess said, "Wutains and their guests only. We have no English menus."
"Not a problem, I'm Wutain and these are my guests." Reno replied in perfect Wutain. He didn't even have an accent. The hostess made a surprised face and led the trio to a table.
"You speakWutain?" Elena asked surprised.
"Course I do, so does Rude. As a Turk you have to speak a variety of languages. One of us will teach you when this whole Avalanche mess is over with. Tseng'll probably teach you." Reno said.
"Reno's actually Wutain, even though he doesn't look it. He's the one who taught me." Rude supplied.
Elena nodded still stunned. Reno was turning out to be chock full of surprises. She hoped she'd learn more about him on this vacation.
A/N: Yay an update at a semi reasonable time. :) now if only i could get it to be better. anyways feel free to review/critique/flame