Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 6: Ghosts of the Past

“He was in here when the ceiling caved in!” Tifa shouted back at Reno, “But there’s no sign of him now!”

The fact that there wasn’t any trace of Cloud at all was her only comfort for the time being. After all, if he wasn’t buried somewhere in this mess, he had to have gotten out alright… he had to.

“Well, he didn’t just disappear…” said Yuffie.

“Listen… You two stay put,” said Reno, “Something weird’s going on here. The three of us will take a quick look around up here, just to be on the safe side, then we’ll meet you down there.”

———-

“Aeris?” he called out, hearing his own voice echoing, as though he was in a massive cavern. All around him was the light, its warm glow inviting and beautiful. Ribbons of color snaked their was through the vastness of it all… pale greens, vibrant blues, reds and yellows and gold, curtains of iridescent silver… tendrils of light that seemed to slip through his very fingers like liquid as he reached out to them.

“Aeris? Where are you?” he called again. Somewhere from within the light came a soft, teasing laugh.

“Come and find me,” her voice replied.

———-

“Creep-city,” Yuffie murmured, engrossed in a passage from the research station’s log book, “If it’d been me, I’d have gotten the hell outta here.”

“What?… More ghosts, I suppose,” Reno remarked, his skepticism readily apparent in his voice. Elena, on the other hand, was silent… brooding as she trailed behind the other two, still peeved at that fact that no one seemed to believe that she’d really seen Tseng.

‘I didn’t imagine it! He was there!’ she thought to herself, ‘… Wasn’t he?’

“Elena! Keep up, will ya?” Reno snapped, and the other Turk immediately shook herself from her reverie, only to realize just how far behind she’d fallen. She hurried to catch up.

Room after room revealed nothing. There was no sign of Tseng… There was no sign of anyone, for that matter, which nagged persistently at Reno’s mind. The footprints in the dust upstairs had been real. They had also been very recent. Someone was in this building, or had been not long ago. Elena had said she’d heard someone calling to her. That someone had to be here still, lurking somewhere in the shadows… watching them. Reno didn’t like being the one who was being watched.

“This whole log reads like the beginning of a cheap horror novel…” said Yuffie, “And this Dr. Umeshi who was writing it? She starts sayin’ some pretty strange stuff after awhile.”

———-

It had one… One of the little ones that couldn’t fly away yet. Not yet, not yet, not yet… This one made horrible sounds though. It wished the little one would be quiet and stop trying to run away. It was bringing the little one to the light. The little one would love the light, just like It did. It didn’t understand why the little one wanted to run away.

The light wanted more… much, much more. It would bring the light more. It carried It’s gift for the light back into the shadows. The little one was making so much noise, but soon it would be part of the light…

———-

“Yuffie, would’ya put that book away already? We can all take a look at it when we meet up with the others,” said Reno.

“Yeah, but what if…”

A wail broke the thick silence of the building, echoing through the corridors… Animalistic and distressed… no, terrified… it carried far in the still air.

“What the fuck is that?” Reno wondered aloud. The cry continued, growing louder as if whatever was making the awful racket was coming closer. On instinct, both Turks drew their weapons, and awaited whatever was coming. A figure emerged from the shadows, carrying with it a small bundle that thrashed wildly, trying to break away.

“Hey!” Reno yelled. The figure, whoever, or whatever, it was, paused as if it had only now noticed the three of them. It was concealed in a grey, hooded cloak, tattered and torn with wear. Bare feet were visible, as were a pair of skeleton-thin hands. For a moment, it simply stood there… then it dropped its frightened captive and fled, melting back into the shadows.

“Hey! Get back here!” Reno ordered, taking off in the direction the figure had run, electro-rod in hand. Elena followed quickly behind her fellow Turk. Yuffie, too, began to follow, but the strange bundle that now lay quivering on the floor suddenly recaptured her attention. She cautiously moved toward it.

Whatever it was, it was wrapped in what looked like an old bed sheet, and it squirmed and whimpered softly when the ninja prodded it gently with her foot. “H-hello?” she said, unsure of what to make of it. A tiny red snout nosed its way out of the little prison, and a moment later, without warning, the thing inside pounced, knocking Yuffie to the floor and landing on her stomach.

She shrieked in surprise as the sudden attack threw her shuruken from her grasp, and she tried desperately to wrestle it away, her eyes widening at what she now saw. The monster’s teeth gleamed a dull white in the poorly lit room, and its forked tongue lolled out of its mouth, flicking in and out every now and then. Red scales rippled as it crawled over her, pinning her to the floor and moving toward her face, sharp little claws digging into her ever so slightly. A dragon… a red dragon.

She could feel its hot breath on her cheek as it leaned closer, and she closed her eyes, expecting at any moment to feel those sharp fangs sinking into her flesh… Instead, something warm and wet and rough glided across her cheek. Yuffie’s eyes shot open as the dragon gave her a second, somewhat slobbery, lick.

“Ewww!” she groaned, wrenching an arm free and wiping her face. The dragon cocked its head and stared at her.

“Hey… You’re just a baby, aren’t ya?” she said, suddenly realizing that the creature was really no bigger than a large dog.

“Yuffie!”

The ninja started in alarm, turning her head to face the two returning Turks, who now stood in the doorway… weapons poised dangerously, ready to strike.

“No! Don’t hurt it!” Yuffie cried, at last managing to shove the little dragon off of her, and clambered to her feet. The baby gave an indignant yelp as it righted itself and retreated behind Yuffie, peering at the Turks from between her legs.

“Oh… Look how cute it is!” Elena squealed. Reno turned his gaze on the other Turk.

“Elena… That is a dragon… Dragons are not ‘cute’…” he said, dryly. The baby hissed viciously at him as though it sensed that it was being talked about. Reno glared back at it.

“Come on… Ditch the lizard and let’s go warn the others… That weirdo ran downstairs,” he added.

———-

“What’s taking them so long?” Tifa muttered. Waiting… She could be looking for Cloud, but instead, she was waiting… Waiting for Turks, no less! Why was she even waiting for them at all? It wasn’t as if Reno was in charge. Why should she listen to him?

Rationally, she knew it made sense to wait for the others. There was safety in numbers after all, and as much as she hated to admit that Reno could possibly be right about anything, something strange was going on around here. She kicked one of the broken boards that lay on the floor. She was worried.

The company down here certainly wasn’t doing anything to improve her mood, either. Rude was less than conversational. The least he could do was say something. Instead, he just stood… silent. Every once in awhile, Tifa was thought that he was staring at her, watching her, but with his eyes hidden by his sunglasses, she could never be sure. It was starting to become a little unnerving.

“What in the name of Shiva is taking them so long?” she repeated, with even more exasperation than before.

“Might’ve found something up there.”

Tifa jumped at the unexpected answer to her question, and looked at Rude in surprise.

“Hmph… And here I was starting to think you couldn’t talk,” she commented.

“…”

———-

Who were these new ones? They were not here before… and now they had the little one. They had Its gift for the light. The light would not be pleased if It come back with nothing. It should not have run away from these new ones. It should have brought them to the light instead of the little one. The light would like them much, much more. They were like It… and the light especially liked the ones like It…

It had nothing to bring the light. It didn’t want to go back with nothing. It would have to find a way to bring the new ones to the light.

———-

Tifa sat down on a pile of rubble. Reno and the others were taking their sweet time in making their way downstairs, and the awkward silence between Rude and herself was rapidly becoming intolerable. Save for the one sentence, she hadn’t been able to get a word out of the man. ‘How desperate am I? I actually want the damn Turk to talk,’ she thought to herself. She glanced around at her surroundings. ‘Of course, ‘the damn Turk’ did kinda save me from getting buried…’

“I… uh… I never did really thank you…” she said at last. Rude’s head snapped up. ‘Well, that got his attention…’ Tifa thought.

“If you hadn’t been down here with me… Well… Anyway, thanks.”

“… You’re welcome… Tifa.”

She only just caught her own name, added dubiously at the last second, very softly, almost hesitantly. A moment later, Rude looked away from her. Tifa shook her head. She couldn’t figure him out at all.

“Hey, you two…. Did’ya miss us?” her least favorite voice suddenly called from the shadows.

“… Took you awhile…” said Rude. Tifa couldn’t help but notice just how short and directly to the point anything the man said was. Reno stepped out into the small area of light provided by the hole in the ceiling. Elena and Yuffie were not far behind… and Tifa couldn’t be certain, but she thought she saw something moving farther back, hidden in the shadows.

“Yeah, well… We had a little run-in with one of the locals,” Reno replied.

“Someone else is here after all?” Tifa asked.

“Yeah, someone… Didn’t get a good look at him though. He disappeared down a stairwell before me and ‘Lena could catch him. He’s down here somewhere now, ” he said.

There was a shuffling sound from the darkness and this time Tifa was certain something was moving. Rude must have heard it, too, because an instant later his gun was drawn and leveled at the doorway.

“Easy Rude… That’s just Yuffie’s new pet,” Reno muttered.

“Pet?” echoed Tifa, about to question the matter farther, but Yuffie was already calling whatever it was into the room.

“It’s ok, Kaji… Come on… Good boy…”

“Oh great… She’s named it…” Reno groaned as something large and scaly crept into the light.

“Yuffie! That’s a…” Tifa began.

“Well, I couldn’t just leave him alone up there… What if that weirdo came back for him?” Yuffie said defensively, patting the little dragon’s head. The dragon gave a sort of contented mew and nuzzled her hand.

———-

The fresh scent of flowers filled the air, and the grass beneath him was cool and damp. Cloud lay on his back staring up at the sky. The sun was shining brightly and Aeris sat nearby, humming softly and cheerfully… everything was perfect.

He couldn’t remember how he had found her again exactly. One moment, it had been nothing but the light… it had seemed that it would continue on forever. Aeris had called to him again and again, urging him on, telling him to come and find her. And so he had followed as best as he could, racing toward her voice as the colored ribbons of light swirled all around him. And then he was here, enjoying the sunshine, with Aeris for company. The light was slowly fading from his memory, though he tried every now and then to recall its beauty. Somewhere deep in his mind, he felt as though he was forgetting something more than just the light… but the more he tried to grasp at what he had forgotten, the farther it seemed to slip away. Eventually, he stopped reaching for it. Perhaps it wasn’t so important after all.

“Isn’t it beautiful, Cloud… I could stay here forever,” she said, happily settling herself beside him.

“So could I…”

———-

“He can’t have gone far… and I think it’s fairly reasonable to assume he’s not upstairs. So he must be either on this floor, or farther down,” said Reno, who by now had moved as far away from the little dragon as he could. He didn’t particularly like the way it kept eying him… He couldn’t help but notice that it seemed perfectly friendly toward everyone else. ‘Don’t like me, huh? Well, the feelin’s mutual, ya stupid lizard…’ he thought.

“We’re wasting time. Cloud’s still missing, and there’s some guy running around this place doing who knows what. I say we find Cloud, finish looking for those scientists that are supposed to be here, and get off this Odin-forsaken island,” Tifa declared.

“Much as I hate to agree with ya, that was my plan exactly,” Reno said, grinning. Tifa rolled her eyes and fought the urge to smack that grin right off his face. Sometimes she swore he actually enjoyed irritating people until they were on the verge of putting him in the hospital.

“If we split up again, we can search faster,” Yuffie added, “I’ll stay with Reno and Elena… and Tifa, you can stick with Rude.”

Tifa opened her mouth to protest, but Yuffie was already headed out the door into the darkness again, her “pet” obediently following. Reno shrugged and went after her, leaving Elena to catch up.

‘You did that on purpose, didn’t you?’ she thought, ‘You’re trying to make me give them a chance, aren’t you?’

“Let’s go,” she said to Rude, vowing silently that the day she forgave the Turks for anything they had done was the day Sephiroth came back to life and joined the Nibelheim ballet. Heading into the hallway, the pair took the path that led in the opposite direction the others had followed.