Every Now and Then
Chapter 1: A New Midgar
It was the warmest winter he’d ever seen. At a time when there should have been a thick blanket of snow covering everything in sight, and a bitterly cold wind whipping in from the north, there were instead grassy fields, and birds singing sweetly in the fresh air. It was a perfect spring afternoon in the dead of winter.
“One thing I’ll say about Meteor… That damn rock sure improved the weather around here,” said Reno, leaning against the side of the car, pretending to look like he wished he were helping Yuffie to change the flat tire.
“Yeah… whatever…” the ninja grumbled as she shoved the spare into place, “Ya know, you could help, instead of just standing there like the totally useless pain in the butt you are…”
Reno smirked and looked out into the distance toward Midgar. Of course, it wasn’t his Midgar… the one he’d grown up in… That had been trashed by Sephiroth and his giant rock from space. And what Meteor hadn’t demolished had been left standing precariously, a memorial to those lost at the hand of a madman. The Midgar Reno was looking at now was nothing more than a speck in the afternoon sunlight. No towering buildings, no massive glass windows to reflect the golden hue of the sun… it had started out as a camp for the survivors who’d crawled and clawed their way out of the wreckage, and slowly it had morphed into a town – a town that was growing a little more every day. And, like the old Midgar, Shin-Ra was in charge. Of course, since there were no actual Shin-Ra’s left, it was in name only. Reeve was the president of the company now, and by popular vote, no less! Apparently the goody-two-shoes had made quite a few friends as Head of Urban Development… But at any rate, Shin-Ra, Inc. was gradually gaining back some of the power it once had, despite the changes Reeve had made to its operations. Mako energy was pretty much off-limits, and teams had been assigned to dismantle the old reactors one by one. Shin-Ra’s army had been suspended in Midgar, at least for the time being, and quite possibly indefinitely… partly because Reeve didn’t care for the idea of a company controlling a military force (a fact for which Reno thought him far too much an idealist…) and partly because there simply wasn’t enough cash to support such a vast army just now. The troops in Junon still remained, but they were focused on keeping the peace and aiding the people of Midgar.
Shin-Ra had lost nearly everything. True, Junon was still very much intact and functional, but most of the company’s assets had been incorporated into its headquarters in Midgar. And with the Mako reactors being stripped for scrap, Shin-Ra had lost it’s primary product… which meant that stock wasn’t exactly a hot commodity anymore.
But those were Reeve’s problems, not Reno’s… and the new president seemed to be taking it all in stride. As long as he got paid, Reno wasn’t especially interested in the hows or whys of Reeve’s decision-making strategies.
“Aren’t you done yet, princess?” he asked, flashing Yuffie his patented grin.
“If you think you can do this any faster, then be my guest!” she replied.
“Well… I would, but my ribs are still a little tender from a certain overweight ninja-brat landing on them back in Duraman… Wouldn’t wanna aggravate ’em any more than I have to…”
“I’ll aggravate ’em for ya…” the ninja muttered under her breath. And to think… she’d actually come to the conclusion that he wasn’t the complete asshole he constantly acted like. And who did he think he was he calling overweight!?
Reno shrugged, and took the opportunity to light up. His body was craving nicotine, and he didn’t care if the ninja-brat did start yelling at him again. He took a long drag from the cigarette, savoring it and closing his eyes in mild contentment.
“Eww… Grossness!”
“Hey!” Reno cried as nimble fingers plucked the cigarette away.
“How many times do I have to tell you, those things are gross… and besides, they aren’t healthy,” Yuffie stated quite matter-of-factly, dropping the offending object to the ground and grinding it to a pulp beneath her boot.
“Yeah? Well, neither is having to put up with you,” the Turk replied irritably, gazing longingly at the remains of his last cigarette.
“Ah, quit pouting and let’s go already,” said Yuffie as she climbed into the driver’s seat.
“Move over, Yuffie… I already told you, you’re not driving.”
———-
It wasn’t long before the unlikely pair had reached their destination. Reno had sent Reeve a message as soon as they’d reached Junon informing him of recent events, but there were still a few details that needed to be filled in… and so he left Yuffie behind to lug the rather large quantity of materia she’d stashed in the trunk of his car to wherever she was planning on hiding it. She was the one who’d insisted on taking it back with them from Duraman… She could deal with it.
Reno made his way through the streets of Midgar. It was an overcrowded little place, littered with tents and makeshift shelters. Cooking fires burned at intervals along his path, and around them were gathered families and friends and even complete strangers. It reminded him of the slums of the old Midgar, on a very basic level, but here there was not so much utter hopelessness. Most of these people were simply grateful to be alive, despite their losses. Besides which, he knew these conditions were only temporary. Everyday, new buildings were going up to house these people, courtesy of Shin-Ra, Inc. Eventually, these hovels would be replaced by real homes… provided that the few funds Shin-Ra had left held out.
It was an odd contrast, seeing half the town shiny and new, and the other half little more than a refugee camp. Reno made his way to the center of it all… a small, rather plain-looking structure, almost like a bunker, two stories above the ground, and, he knew, another two below. This was the new headquarters of Shin-Ra, Inc. Reeve could have easily moved it all to Junon, but the man had a need to be in the middle of it all… to watch Midgar rebuild itself and help where he could.
Reno just shrugged to himself and pushed open the door. He breezed past the guards with hardly a glance, and made his way to the president’s office on the second floor.
Reeve’s secretary sat at her desk, busy with some odd bit of paperwork or another, but when she caught sight of the redhead, she stopped. Reno grinned at her and sauntered over, leaning coolly on the edge of the desk.
She was a pretty little thing… petite and perhaps just a bit too skinny, with short, raven hair and hazel eyes. Her name was Hope… Just a little too fitting for someone who worked so closely with Reeve. She eagerly returned his smile, as she always did when Reno stopped by.
“Hey… Miss me?” he asked. She giggled softly before regaining her composure.
“President Reeve is waiting for you…” she replied, batting her eyelashes at him.
“Oh, he is, huh… Well, let’im wait…” Reno said, edging ever so slightly closer to her, “How about you come away with me, and we can… get to know one another…”
“Ah, get a room…” a voice behind him said. Reno turned, grin still plastered on his face.
“Hey Spike… What’s up? I know you missed me…” said Reno.
“Yeah… Almost as much as I miss Sephiroth,” he replied coldly.
“I’m hurt, Strife… And here I thought we’d become such good friends…” Reno replied with a wink.
“Where’s Yuffie?” Cloud Strife asked, trying very hard not to be baited by the Turk. Reno shrugged.
“Oh her… I left her in a ditch somewhere.”
Cloud’s eyes narrowed and he grabbed the Turk by the collar of his shirt.
“… Easy, Strife… Man, you have no sense of humor at all.”
“So where is she, Turk?” Cloud asked again, his patience wearing thin.
“Hey, I brought her back. She went her way, and I went mine. I never asked to baby-sit the brat, ya know… She followed me,” Reno replied, removing Cloud’s hand from the general vicinity of his throat, “Last time I saw her she was drooling over her new pile of materia… again.”
The secretary, who’d been all but forgotten by the two men, took the opportunity to interject.
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but President Reeve is waiting for you two…”
“Well…” Reno replied, never taking his eyes off his one-time enemy, “We certainly can’t keep President Reeve waiting, now can we, Strife?”
Cloud said nothing… simply pushed past the Turk and walked through the doors and into Reeve’s office.
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