Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 4: In the Shadows

“What’s taking them so long?” Cloud asked impatiently. They’d paused at the crest of a small rise to wait for Yuffie after she’d gone back to look for the two Turks. They hadn’t yet emerged from the tangle of vines that seemed to, at one time, have covered most of the island. The brown remnants of the tenacious plants could be seen everywhere, though they’d been particularly thick in the area the party had just passed through. It had been a massive briar growing in a pass between the weathered cliffs that rose up just inland from the beach. Indeed, the topography of the island was anything but continuous. As they neared the volcano, the elevation rose just as they would have expected, and yet now, they found themselves looking down a steep embankment at the large wooden building that was nestled against the base of the smoking mountain. It was almost as if the volcano itself were sitting in a gigantic bowl. All around the base, dark grey rock stretched out in a hemispherical valley.

“So that’s it, huh? Not much to look at…”

Cloud turned around to see Reno. How was it that he hadn’t heard the Turk approaching? He could hear the other two, now. Elena and Yuffie were certainly making enough noise to raise the dead as they trampled through the underbrush…

“What were you expecting? A seventy story skyscraper?” replied Cloud, “Did you even bother to look at the file Reeve gave us?”

“So where’s this huge mako fountain??” Yuffie asked eagerly as she and Elena reached the others.

“Down there… About three hundred meters underground in an old lava tube. The building over there is sitting right on top of it,” Reno replied before Cloud had a chance to say anything. He looked at Cloud, “Yeah, I skimmed through it…”

“We’re going down here. Let’s move,” Cloud grumbled, casting an icy glare at the Turk.

“You sure that’s the best idea, Strife?” Reno asked, looking down at the steep slope and the gravely layer of rock that covered it.

“This is probably the best spot we’re going to find… We’re going,” Cloud stubbornly replied. Reno raised a hand to his brow in a mock-salute.

“Yes, sir!” he shouted, making no attempt to wipe the annoyed look off of his face. Elena rolled her eyes. Rude just shook his head slightly, and nudged Reno toward the embankment before the redhead could start a fight.

Yuffie was already on her way down, so Reno shrugged and followed her. The rocks underfoot were loose and crumbling, and every few steps, he found a spot where he tended to slide farther then he actually climbed… impatient as he was, he decided to slow his pace, as did Yuffie. Reno cringed as he watched her lose her footing and slide for a long moment before catching herself and continuing on. Several rocks rolled and bounced down the slope, toward him.

“Hey! Watch it up there!” he called up to Tifa, who was still a good distance above him, as the rocks that her climbing had knocked loose rained down on him. She either didn’t hear him, or chose to ignore him. A rock bounced off his shoulder. ‘Of course, there’s always the possibility she’s doin’ it on purpose…’ he thought. He glanced down and saw that Yuffie had already made it to the bottom. Just another five or six meters and he’d be down himself.

Another shower of rocks came down… But this time, it was accompanied by a startled cry, and Reno had just enough time to look up and catch a glance of Tifa’s well-defined figure falling toward him before the two climbers collided. Reno yelped as Tifa’s knee crashed into his shoulder, and his already dubious footing was lost. He was vaguely aware of the sound of the others calling out in alarm. The rocky cliff grated against his skin as they tumbled down as one, Reno taking the brunt of the abuse. Tifa’s hand was clamped firmly to his upper arm, and whether it was out of panic or simply to keep them from separating, he wasn’t sure.

Finally, it stopped… They hit the bottom of the embankment, rolling out onto the valley floor. The wind knocked out of him, Reno pressed his cheek against the cool stone of the valley. Tifa’s weight was sprawled across his back, and he heard her groan softly as she stirred. Reno winced as she scrambled to get off of him, and the rush of hurried footsteps and more mini-rockslides could be heard as Yuffie ran towards them and the others hastened their progress downward.

“Tifa! Reno!” Yuffie cried, kneeling down beside him. He would have answered her had it not been for the uncomfortable tightness in his chest that was only gradually beginning to subside as he forced himself to take deeper and deeper breaths. Moving in any way was, for the moment, not high on his list of priorities.

‘Gonna feel that in the morning,’ he thought to himself.

“Reno, are you alright?” Yuffie asked, “R-Reno?”

“Come on, Turk… Get up…” said Tifa… Was that an actual note of concern he heard in her voice?

“Reno! Oh no…” Elena’s voice chimed in, “Reno? Oh, please don’t be dead!”

“…” Rude’s boot nudged him gently in the ribs.

“Tifa?! Are you okay?” Cloud asked. He’d been the last to start down into the valley, and consequently the last to arrive.

“She’s fine… She landed on top of me,” Reno groaned at last, “Seriously… why do I always end up on the bottom?”

A pair of strong hands lifted him into a sitting position. Rude peered at him through his shades, appraising the scrapes and soon-to-be bruises that littered Reno’s pale flesh.

“…”

“Yeah, yeah… I’m fine,” Reno said as he clambered to his feet, “Don’t go gettin’ all worried about me, Rude…”

Rude shrugged in response. The redhead staggered slightly, and Rude quickly steadied him. Cloud was too busy checking Tifa for injuries to notice. Fortunately, she’d gotten off with hardly a scratch.

“Don’t scare us like that!” Yuffie cried, and she punched Reno in the shoulder… naturally, the same shoulder Tifa’s knee had already connected with.

“Ow! Hey! Aren’t I in enough pain already?” he pouted, cradling the injury. Cloud was already headed toward the research center, apparently satisfied that Tifa wasn’t seriously hurt.

“Asshole…” Reno muttered under his breath, watching him go. He turned to Rude and Elena, “Well? What are you two waiting for… a written invitation? Let’s go.”

The other two Turks looked briefly at each other before obeying Reno’s order. Yuffie hesitated a moment, assuring herself that Reno wasn’t going to keel over, before following suit.

“Hey,” said Reno, quickening his pace to catch up with Tifa, and catching her by the arm.

“What?” she replied somewhat suspiciously.

“So, uh… You alright?”

———-

“So, uh… You alright?”

If the question itself didn’t catch her off-guard, the fact that she could find none of the Turk’s usual sarcasm in it did. Emerald green eyes watched her, awaiting an answer. She was silent for a moment.

“Why would you care?” she said at last, pulling away from him. She shook her head. This was the heartless bastard who’d destroyed more lives than she could count… He’d single-handedly killed scores of families living beneath the Sector 7 plate, and gods only knew how many others…

“Oh, sorry… I forgot. I’m a Turk. I’m not allowed to care about anything, right?” Reno said with a scowl, “Shit… Forget I asked.”

He turned his back to her and hurried to rejoin the others who’d moved on ahead, and Tifa could help but think he’d sounded almost… hurt.

‘Come on Tif… Give the guy a break. Sure he can be a total ass sometimes, but he’s not a monster,’ Yuffie’s words from the previous day came back to her with persistent clarity, but she quickly pushed them aside. She wasn’t ready to believe them.

———-

The wooden floor creaked and groaned with the added weight of the new arrivals.

“No power… It doesn’t look like anyone’s been here in a long time,” said Cloud, testing the light switch on the wall. The building was dark, and the air had a stale quality to it. They stood in a relatively large room… probably it had been used as a lounge or reading room at some point, as the dust covered sofa and chair seemed to indicate. A tattered, moth-eaten carpet covered the floor, and a number of books were strewn about the room. Elena picked up a few.

“Thermodynamic Reactions of Mako Source-levels… Natural Mako: An Analysis of Geochemical Effects… Geostructural Consequences of Shallow Mako Intrusion… Well, at least we know we’re in the right place,” she said.

“Yeah… But where are the people who’re supposed to be here?” asked Yuffie.

“That’s what we’re here to find out,” Cloud replied, “I think the best thing to do now is split up and search this place from top to bottom.”

“Heh… For once I agree with ya, Strife,” said Reno. He was absently flipping through one of the books Elena had handed to him, “Yo, Rude… You, me, and ‘Lena can go check out whatever they got upstairs.”

Reno headed for the staircase that was tucked into a corner of the lounge. The other two Turks weren’t far behind.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?!” Cloud shouted. Reno stopped in mid-stride.

“Where did I just say I was going?” he replied without turning around.

“Listen, Turk… I’m in charge here…”

“Yeah? Says who?” said Reno, turning on his heel and cutting off whatever else Cloud had been about to say, “I don’t remember havin’ a say in who was in charge… And while we’re on the subject, if you want my opinion…”

“I don’t,” Cloud growled. Reno ignored him.

“You’re so-called leadership is gonna get us all killed. You marched us into those vines not knowing what might be in there… You decided to go down the steepest part of that cliff without even looking for a better route… The hero crap is gettin’ old, Strife.”

Rude and Elena subtly backed off to a safe distance.

“And your attitude is “gettin’ old”, Turk,” Cloud replied, narrowing his eyes.

“Get used to it, you chocobo-headed freak,” Reno hissed, “Who the hell does your hair anyway?”

Cloud shoved him backwards, but Reno was ready for it, stepping back away from the force that was directed at him, and remained unfazed.

“That the best you can do?” he taunted.

“What is he doing?” Elena asked quietly. Rude shrugged.

“Cloud, we don’t have time for this,” Yuffie interjected, hoping to break things up before they went any farther.

“Come on Strife… Let’s see what you got!” said Reno. Cloud moved in to take a swing at him, but the Turk sidestepped. Cloud’s momentum carried him forward, stumbling, but he easily regained his balance. But just as he was about to take a second swing, the floor beneath his feet creaked and shifted, unable to support him. Cloud yelped in surprise as he fell through, the rotting floor giving way and all but disintegrating where he stood. Cloud grabbed for the edge of the newly-formed hole, but the wood splintered and broke away, leaving him in a freefall toward the next floor down.

“Cloud!”

He wasn’t sure if it was Tifa’s voice, or Yuffie’s, or both… not that it particularly mattered as he crashed into the floorboards below.

———-

More… more, more…

It could feel the light growing more insistent… more demanding. It wanted to bring the light more. The light pulsated all around It, warm and comforting, and It could feel others within the light, as well. They all wanted the same thing It did… To bring to light more, so that the light would be pleased with them, and give them what they needed. It had failed to bring the ones who flew to the light. Each time they had tried, the creatures had taken to the air… The light had not been pleased. The small ones were easy to bring to the light, because they couldn’t fly yet… but they were so difficult to find… It would have to leave the light for a very long time to bring one here.

More, more, MORE…

It would find more of the small ones for the light.

———-

“Cloud! Can you hear me?” Tifa called down through the hole in the floor.

“I’m alright…” a voice echoed up from below.

“Nice going, Reno,” Yuffie said, smacking him in the back of the head.

“Me?! What’d I do?” the Turk replied, “It’s not like I shoved him down there myself… and quit hitting me!”

“Well, if you hadn’t started arguing with him…”

“Look… No big deal. Tifa an’ Rude can go find the stairs to the basement and get Strife while the rest of us take a look around up here.”

“Forget it,” Tifa interjected, “I’ll go find a way to get Cloud out of there myself. Yuffie, keep an eye on these three until we get back!”

With that, she stormed off, heading down one of the darkened corridors.

“Rude, follow her and make sure she doesn’t fall through the floor like Strife did, and get herself killed or something,” Reno sighed as soon as Tifa was out of earshot. Rude nodded silently and started after her, “Alright… Elena, you check out the rest of this floor – and for Holy’s sake be careful where you step. Me and Yuffie’ll take a look around upstairs and meet you back here in say… twenty minutes?”

———-

“Ew, ew, ew… Grossness! Get it off!” Yuffie cried, flailing her arms in a desperate attempt to rid herself of the sticky netting that clung tenaciously to her face.

“Yuff… It’s just a spiderweb,” Reno snickered as he watched her rather amusing little dance. The ninja made a point of glowering at him as she picked the web out of her hair.

“Ew…” she moaned.

“Are you done yet, princess?” he asked, leaning casually against a wall.

“Hmph… You’d do the same thing if you’d walked into that thing!” Yuffie replied.

“No way,” he smirked. Yuffie flung the last bit of webbing to the floor.

“Now are you done?” he asked. Yuffie nodded, “Good… Let’s see what else is up here.”

He straightened and headed for the door that led back to the hallway they’d entered from. Apparently, this floor was the research team’s sleeping quarters. The first room they’d investigated looked as though it hadn’t seen any visitors in awhile… except for one very busy spider.

“Um… Reno?”

He was headed for the next room, with Yuffie trailing behind.

“R-Reno…”

“Look, if you want an apology for laughin’ at you, you’re not gonna get one, ‘kay?”

“Reno!” she shouted.

“What?”

“There’s something crawling on your back!”

“Huh?” He twisted his head as far as he could, trying to get a halfway decent view of whatever Yuffie was talking about, catching just the briefest glance of a black lump skittering away from his shoulder and down his back.

“AHHH! Get it off, get it off, get it OFF!!!”

———-

“Elena…”

She stopped, looking all around her, but saw no one in the dingy light that came through the grime-covered windows.

“H-hello? Who’s there?”

“Elena…” The voice was soft – barely above a whisper – and the haunting sound sent a chill racing down her spine.

“Reno, if this is one of your stupid jokes…”

“Elena… I’m waiting for you…”

That was definitely not Reno’s voice. She reached into her jacket, drawing her gun.

“Where are you?” she called out.

“This way, Elena… I’m here…”

The voice seemed to be coming from the next room. Elena held her gun ready to fire at a moment’s notice and moved cautiously towards the door, reaching out and turning the doorknob as quietly as possible. In one swift movement, she kicked the door wide open, gun aimed into the room as she scanned the shadows for possible targets. What her eyes at last came to rest on, however, made her drop her weapon in shock. It clattered to the floor, the sound echoing in the large room, and her eyes widened in shock.

“I’ve been waiting, Elena… We were supposed to have dinner.”

“Tseng?… I… You… But… You… You’re… dead, sir…” she stammered. And yet, there he was, standing in the center of the room as though nothing had ever happened. His blue Turk’s uniform was neatly pressed, as always. Not a hair was out of place. He stood straight and tall, the barest hint of a smile on his lips.

“Come over here, Elena…” he said, and she had no doubt in her mind that the deep, rich voice that spoke was indeed Tseng’s. She didn’t care that it was impossible… that his being here didn’t make the least bit of sense. He was alive! She started towards him.

“Tseng…”

The floor creaked loudly, and she paused, suddenly unsure of her footing, looking down at the wood. Surely if it could support Tseng’s weight, it could hold her…

“Come to me, Elena…”

She took a cautious step forward. The floorboards groaned and bowed in protest. It couldn’t hold… It couldn’t possibly hold.

“Come to me…”

She took another step forward. This time, the board cracked. Her foot slipped through, and the floor began to cave in from the center of the room to where she stood. Elena lunged back the way she’d come from with a scream, clawing her way back from the collapsing floor in a desperate attempt to avoid the fall.

For a moment, she didn’t think she’d make it, but suddenly she was safe. She turned back to look, eyes wide and breathing heavily. Tseng still stood there, just as he had before… but beneath his feet was nothing but a gaping hole, leading down into darkness. He simply seemed to hover there, unmoved and heedless of what had just happened. Elena stared at him as he slowly faded away and then vanished altogether… and then she grabbed her gun from the floor, and ran…

———-

“Reno… I’m pretty sure it’s dead, now,” said Yuffie.

“Not.” *STOMP* “Until.” *STOMP* “I.” *STOMP* “Say it is,” he replied, grinding it to a pulp beneath his boot.

“Geez, Reno… It was just a spider.”

“Shut up,” he muttered, trying to ignore her girlish giggles as he walked into the next room, “Hmm… Looks like someone’s been in here recently…”

He knelt down to examine more closely the footprints in the dust that covered the floor.

“How recently?” asked Yuffie. Reno shrugged and looked around the room.

“Well… More recently than that guy…”

“Huh?” Yuffie followed the Turk’s gaze and took an involuntary step back as she saw what he was talking about…

The yellowing bones of a human skeleton were seated on a chair in one corner of the room. It grinned back at her as if it had a secret to tell, but wouldn’t share with anyone.

“This probably isn’t a good sign, is it?…” she said, staring at it. Reno had moved off toward the other side of the room.

“Doubt it…” he replied, flipping through the notebook he’d picked up from the desk by the window.

“What’s that?” Yuffie asked.

“Looks like one of the scientist’s journals,” he replied, “Or maybe some kind of log.”

“Well? What’s it say?!”

Suddenly, a rumbling crash shook the building, echoing up from below and reverberating through the walls.

“What was that?!” Yuffie cried.

“I dunno… But I’m sure Elena is somehow involved…” Reno responded, taking off at a sprint toward the stairs.

———-

“Elena?!” Reno called as her reached the first floor, racing in the direction he’d seen Elena take when they’d separated. Yuffie wasn’t far behind.

A blue-clad figure emerged from the shadows, eyes turned away from the direction in which it was running. It took Reno a moment to recognize the figure as the very person he was looking for, and he skidded to a halt… Elena did not.

She collided with him, sending them both to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs.

“Why do women keep landing on me?!” Reno shouted as he lifted the other Turk off of himself.

“Reno! Reno… You won’t believe… I… I… It was… I saw… I saw…”

“Whoa… Come on, ‘Lena… Spit it out already…” Reno said, climbing to his feet and offering a hand to Elena.

“I saw Tseng!” she cried at last.