Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 6: Escape

Yuffie laid her cheek on Reno’s chest, closing her eyes despite the impenetrable blackness that surrounded them, trying not to think about the droning hum of the machinery that was the driving force behind their imminent death. She never would have imagined that her last moments on the planet would be spent in the company of a Turk… and of all the Turks, it just had to be Reno. And yet, it was something of a comfort to have him there… to know that she wasn’t alone. Out of nowhere, the thought suddenly occurred to her that Reno could have just left her behind. He’d had the file with that bastard’s plan right in his hand – that was all he’d really come for – but instead of abandoning her and leaving her to her own defenses, he’d come looking for her… and gotten himself caught in the process.

‘Some hero…’ she thought, barely even a half-hearted insult. She was grateful he hadn’t just run off, even if he hadn’t been able to save her. The nagging fact that this was all her fault clawed at her mind… If she’d only stayed with him instead of going after the materia… He had every right to be furious with her right now, but here he was, comforting her as best he could, his arms wrapped around her now in a protective embrace… He had surprisingly strong arms for someone who looked so damn scrawny…

It seemed like she could actually feel the room getting smaller. She couldn’t be sure how quickly whatever space remained was closing up, and the more she thought about it, the more she didn’t think she wanted to know. A building sense of claustrophobia threatened her precarious hold on the panic that was welling up inside of her. She didn’t want to die. She tried to think of other things… of her friends, of Wutai, of her father… tried to picture them… but instead found herself saying goodbye to them in her mind, one by one. She wondered if Reno was doing the same. She wondered if he was saying goodbye to Elena and Rude. Was there anyone else? Yuffie suddenly found herself wishing she’d gotten to know him better… but she’d blinded herself, seeing only the arrogant womanizer and the cold, hard killer that she kept insisting to herself that he was… and now, alone with him here, neither of those exteriors fit anymore, and she felt a little ashamed and very childish for never having given him the chance to show her who he really was.

She realized that she’d lost all sense of time… didn’t know how long her thoughts had been going in circles… didn’t quite know why her thoughts kept coming back to Reno. His hands gently rubbed soothing patterns on her back, and the room felt smaller still. ‘How long til we won’t even be able to stand up?’ she wondered morbidly. That question was answered a moment later when Reno pulled her down to sit on the cold metal floor, never letting go of her for a second. His hand pressed against the small of her back, lifting her onto his lap. It reminded her of the night before when they fallen asleep together in the alley… She’d felt his arms around her then, too, just before she’d fallen asleep.

It took her a moment for her mind to return to the present and notice that the Turk’s hand was lingering at her back, against her waist… She felt his body tense as the nimble fingers behind her tugged lightly at the belt that encircled her waist.

“Reno?” she questioned, but just as his name left her lips, he suddenly pulled away from her, and for a moment she thought she was imagining things when she saw a dim glow in the pitch black of the room… a soft green that shone against the pale skin of Reno’s hand, providing only enough light to see his thin fingers curled around the faintly illuminated crystalline orb.

“Oh my god…” Yuffie gasped, her hand reaching behind her to the small pouch she wore at her belt, “They must have missed that one when they took the rest of my materia…”

She’d only been vaguely aware of what was happening at the time, still dazed and half-frozen from her failed attack on Curtis.

“Yuffie… Please tell me this is something we can use to get out of here…” said Reno. Yuffie searched her mind, trying to remember what kind of materia she’d put into the pouch. Earth… It had to be Earth materia… She distinctly remembered placing an Earth materia into the pouch because there hadn’t been any more room for it in her armor or weapon… A fact which she quickly related to Reno, her voice trembling with renewed hope. Reno reached out to her, pulling her along with him as he scrambled across the floor, until his back hit the wall.

“I don’t know if this is gonna work, but considering the alternative…” he said, leaving the sentence unfinished, squeezing her hand gently.

“Just do it!” she nearly screamed, her free hand clamping down on his arm in a white-knuckled grip as though she feared he might somehow be taken from her now. She involuntarily held her breath as Reno cast a Quake spell.

The room shook, a much more violent vibration than before, as seismic waves rippled outward from the center of the floor, the glow from the materia intensifying and casting its eerie light into the darkness. They watched as the floor began to buckle, rippling in metallic waves until it could stand no more, splitting and cracking, twisting itself apart at the crests of the ripples to reveal the stone foundation below. The vibrations moved outward, channeling up the walls, deforming and bending them. Reno pulled Yuffie against him, not sure if this was any better than being crushed. Yuffie let a muffled sob escape, the sound drowned out by the roar created by the mechanical equipment and the magically powered earthquake. There was the loud, earsplitting squeal of metal on metal, as the ceiling continued its descent, trying to move downward against the buckled walls, sparks erupting from the edges where the two surfaces fought to move past each other.

The waves generated by the Quake spell rippled their way into the ceiling above them… The glow of the materia glinted off the polished surface now, revealing just how dangerously close it was. The room was shaking… the entire room. The floor, the walls, the ceiling, all trembling, each with its own rhythm… a dangerous percussion that threatened to tear the prison apart.

The ceiling gave out at last, the central piston that had apparently been driving the metal plate downward skewering through it as if it were paper, embedding itself in the floor with a shattering thud that reverberated painfully in Yuffie’s ears. With a final screech, the ceiling stopped moving, but only for a moment before it cracked, breaking apart across its diameter, half of it falling and sending out more sparks as it crashed to the floor mere inches from where Reno and Yuffie were huddled, light spilling in from above. She was blinded by the sudden illumination, but then Reno was pulling her to her feet, guiding her out from under the other half that balanced uncertainly above them, held by the protruding portions of the wall. She blinked, eyes adjusting to the light, and wondered why everything was still shaking. Surely the spell should have subsided by now. And then she realized that it was she who was trembling, in part from utter terror, and also from the sheer relief of knowing that she and Reno were safe. She looked up at the Turk, noticing that despite the grin he now wore, he looked as pale and shaken as she felt, and she almost laughed at the odd combination of expressions. Instead, she threw her arms around him, ecstatic to be alive. Reno hissed in pain.

“Ah! Yuffie… not so tight,” he cried. She quickly released him, confused until she suddenly remembered the loud crack she’d heard when she’d landed on him after being tossed into the room.

“God, I’m sorry Reno… I didn’t mean to…”

“S’ok… I’ll be fine,” Reno reassured her, “Besides… A few cracked ribs are the least of our problems. We still have to get out of this town.”

Yuffie looked around at the wreckage and nodded.

“Come on…” said Reno, as he climbed onto the twisted metal, and headed for the door to the room that had been forced open, hanging from its hinges at an odd angle. The debris beneath his feet, which had once been the ceiling of the room, shifted and creaked with his added weight, but held as he pulled himself up and through the doorway. Reaching a hand down to Yuffie, he helped her up as well. They looked around at the vault, taking notice of the materia that was now scattered everywhere in a disorganized mess, some of it still on the shelves, some on the floor.

“The whole house probably felt that spell,” said Yuffie. Reno was about to agree, suggesting that they get out before someone showed up to check things out, when a gunshot echoed throughout the massive room. Not knowing for certain where the shot had come from, Reno pushed Yuffie to the ground, nearly landing on top of her in his own dive for cover.

“Get them!” yelled an irate voice from the opposite end of the vault. Reno recognized it immediately as Curtis. From his position on the floor, Reno couldn’t tell how many guards were with him.

“Looks like we’re gonna have to fight our way out of here,” he said to Yuffie, reaching for the nearest materia orb. As a hail of gunfire riddled the wall behind them, Reno crept closer to their attackers, looking down at the crystal in his hand. Yuffie hear him quietly cast a spell, and a wall of flame erupted across the room. She could hear one of the men screaming and a commotion as others tried to help him. She quickly collected a number of the scattered orbs, placing them into the slots on her armor, and moved toward Reno to help.

“Don’t try to cast anything on Curtis,” she warned him, keeping her head down as the shooting from the other side of the room resumed, “He’s wearing a Reflect ring.”

Reno nodded, grateful for the warning, and then the two of them let loose a flurry of spells… everything from Ice to Demi… easily taking down most of their opponents. Suddenly, the air came alive with the crackle of electricity, and Yuffie looked up just in time to see a bolt of lightning streaking through the air, striking Reno and sending him flying backwards.

“Reno!” Yuffie cried, staring for a moment in horror as the Turk’s body convulsed violently for a few seconds before going still. She cast an Ice spell on the guard who’d attacked him before scrambling to Reno’s side. He groaned softly as she rolled him onto his back.

“Garris! Riley! Get back there and finish them off,” Curtis ordered. Yuffie soon heard the sound of the two men’s heavy footsteps coming toward her.

“Reno, come on… Wake up,” she whispered loudly, shaking the unconscious man. His eyelids fluttered and opened.

“What…”

“I’ve never met anyone as hard to kill as you two!” Garris’ voice growled. Yuffie turned to see a gun leveled at her head. Riley stood to his left, “Grab the girl.”

Riley seized her arm, dragging her to her feet. She watched as Garris kicked Reno brutally in the side when he tried to get up, eliciting a near-scream from the injured Turk. Yuffie winced empathetically, knowing that the kick had only done more damage to Reno’s already-broken ribs.

“I should have just done it like this in the first place,” said Garris, pointing the gun at Reno’s head.

Time seemed to slow down for Yuffie as she realized that if they were going to get out of here alive, it was up to her. She glared at Riley before twisting her body to get away from him… but his grip on her arm was tight, and he’d expected her to fight back. In desperation, she slammed her weight against him, and as he fought to keep his balance and retain his grip on her, Yuffie sank her teeth into his arm. She bit down hard, tasting blood and ignoring the man’s yelp.

‘Didn’t expect that, did ya?’ she thought as his grip loosened just enough that she could break free, and she threw herself in Garris’ direction, tackling him. The gun fired, but the bullet missed its target… just barely. Garris flung the young ninja away from him. She recovered quickly only to see Riley advancing toward her. He lunged, but she was ready this time, dodging the attempted strike from the electro-rod in his hand and countering with a painful kick to his shin followed by an uppercut that sent him reeling backwards into one of the shelves, Reno’s stolen electro-rod clattering to the floor. Yuffie dove for it before the man could get back up.

Reno, meanwhile, was wrestling Garris for possession of the gun, Yuffie’s unexpected attack having given him the opportunity to take a more defensive position. He’d seen the gun drop from Garris’ hand and leapt for it just as Yuffie had been tossed aside. He and Garris had reached for the gun at the same time, and now each struggled to get it away from the other, as well as trying to avoid being shot in the scuffle.

“Reno! Catch!” Yuffie shouted, tossing the electro-rod in his direction before turning back to handle Riley. The Turk dared to loose one hand from his grip on the gun, grabbing his own weapon. Garris jerked the gun away from Reno, but it was already too late. The electro-rod jammed painfully into his gut, searing pain overwhelming his nerves as his body convulsed, electricity sizzling from the weapon, and then went limp. Reno rolled away, having only to glance at the agonized look on the man’s face to know he was no longer a threat… that despite his shaky breathing, he probably wouldn’t live much longer. He forced himself to his feet, intent on helping Yuffie deal with the other one, but found that she’d already taken care of him.

“You look like Hell,” Yuffie stated. Was that a note of concern he heard in her voice?

“I’ll live,” Reno replied, looking down at Riley who was only just starting to come to his senses. Reno stepped forward and shocked him back into a more helpless state with his newly-regained weapon before looking around for Curtis. Not surprisingly, he was gone.

“Give me a hand with these two… I doubt they’re gonna be doing much any time soon, but I’d feel better if they were locked up.”

Yuffie nodded and helped Reno shove the two men unceremoniously into the room that she and the Turk had just escaped from. Reno blocked the door by tipping over one of the heavy shelves in front of it.

“Alright… Let’s go,” said Reno, as he turned around to face his accomplice, “Yuffie, what are you doing?”

Yuffie grinned sheepishly at the exasperated tone of Reno’s voice, and shrugged… which in itself was quite a feat, as her arms were laden with materia.

“Put it down…” Reno ordered.

“But…”

“Just how far do you think we’re going to get with you hauling around an armload of materia?!”

Yuffie sighed and dropped the materia. He was right. She didn’t know what she’d been thinking. It was her greed for the translucent stones that had gotten them into this mess in the first place.

“Ok, ok… Let’s just go,” she said, glancing at Reno apologetically.