Taking Care of Reno: Meteorfall
Chapter 13: The Temple of the Ancients
“Hey… Rude… Think I mighta just found what we’re lookin’ for…” Reno’s voice called out to him from the far end of the room. They’d abandoned the filing cabinets and turned instead to the bookshelves. In retrospect, they should have started there… but neither man had realized that many of the dusty tomes were not published books but rather handwritten research journals. They belonged to a number of Shinra Company scientists, including Dr. Faremis Gast… a name which wasn’t completely unfamiliar to Rude… as well as a Dr. Lucrecia Crescent.
The vast majority of Hojo’s journals, however, had been conspicuously absent… Someone had pulled them from the shelves. Rude set one of Dr. Gast’s notebooks down and went to see what Reno had discovered.
“Fuckin’ things were sittin’ right out in the open this whole goddamn time,” the redhead muttered, from the shadows, clearly annoyed, and tossed him a book. Several more littered a table near the back of the darkened room where old candles had long since burned down to nubs.
“Grab ’em and bring ’em out where we’ve got some light,” Rude suggested. The light fixture overhead had briefly sparked when they’d turned on the power back on, before going permanently dark. The redhead had been using a flashlight to dig through the back corners of the basement archives. Rude helped him gather up the collection and carry it into the lab area down the hall… They’d have plenty of light there.
Reno dropped his stack onto the lab bench in the center of the room, sending up a cloud of dust, and sneezed violently.
“Fuck, man… There’s so much shit in the air down here, I think I’m growin’ allergies…” he said, doing his best to wave the dust away from his face.
“Pretty sure you don’t ‘grow’ allergies, Reno…” the other Turk chuckled.
“Well, whatever ya do to get allergies,” he replied, pausing to sneeze again, “I’m pretty sure I’m doin’ it.”
Rude snickered and flipped open one of the books scanning the scrawled text. “Bingo.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Jenova project. This one’s dated twenty years ago.”
“Sweet. Then let’s pack this shit up and haul ass back to the Highwind,” Reno replied. Rude, however, was leafing through another journal. The redhead groaned… They’d be here for hours if the guy really got into it. His partner never could resist the opportunity to acquire new information.
Before he could comment, however, the bald Turk frowned thoughtfully and glanced up at him. “What’s the oldest one you’ve got?”
“Fuck, I dunno…” Reno said with a shrug, and shoved a few of the books aside to get to the bottom of the pile. “Twenty-eight years back, I guess? Oh… hang on. This one’s thirty-one. Not seein’ anything older than that…”
“Let me see it…”
“For fuck’s sake, man… You can read on the way back, ya know. I’m doin’ the flyin’ after all,” the redhead sighed, but obligingly handed over the notebook. Rude took it, and opened it to the beginning, scanning through the first few pages while his friend stood by, impatiently tapping his foot.
“Yeah, okay… You enjoy that. And while you’re doing that, I’m just gonna start shovin’ the rest of these into this bag right here,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Tch… You ‘n ‘Lena oughta start a fuckin’ book club or somethin’. You’re such goddamn nerds sometimes…”
The other Turk snorted softly at the man’s last comment, but didn’t look up. Reno shook his head and started to gather the journals into the canvas bag he’d unearthed from beneath the table in the other room a short while ago.
“… You’re not going to believe this.”
Reno laughed. “Partner… We’re chasing a guy who’s been dead for five years, broke into one of the most secure buildings on the planet without anyone noticin’, and apparently has a bunch of clones created by a lunatic scientist followin’ him around doin’ his bidding. At this point, I’ll believe just about anything…”
“Hojo is Sephiroth’s father.”
“… except that Hojo actually managed to get someone to fuck him. There’s just no way in hell,” he quickly added.
“I’m serious,” Rude replied, glancing down at one of the pages and reading aloud, “Subject One continues to develop at a better than average rate. It is fortuitous that Dr. Crescent is of the same mind as myself. Gast does not approve, but we have informed in him no uncertain terms that the decision to administer cells recovered from the Jenova specimen in utero is entirely ours, as the biological parents, to make… though he continued for some weeks to threaten to take the matter to board of directors on ethical grounds. I at last had to inform him that, should he force us to terminate the experiment, Lucrecia and I would simply leave and breed a new subject and continue our research elsewhere. On a side note, gestation has progressed to the point that gender can be determined. The subject is male. Lucrecia insists upon naming it Sephiroth. I believe I will continue to refer to it as Subject One for the foreseeable future.”
Reno paused in his efforts to pack up the small library of documents, and simple stared at his fellow Turk, slightly horrified. “Okay… overlookin’ the seriously disturbing mental image you’ve now given me of Hojo gettin’ laid… that sick fuck used his own kid as an experiment?”
“… Sounds like it.”
“Fuck. That’s messed up, man.”
“Messed up enough drive someone to burn down an entire village…” Rude agreed, and shut the journal, tucking it into the bag with the others. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Don’t have to ask me twice…” the redhead replied, hoisting the bag’s strap over one shoulder and heading for the stairs. He shook his head. “Goddammit…”
“What now?”
“I’m gonna be thinkin’ about Hojo givin’ it to some poor woman the whole Ifrit-foresaken ride back, now. Thanks a lot, Rude.”
Tseng scowled as he and Elena hit yet another dead end. This was getting ridiculous. They’d been at it for over an hour now, and didn’t seem to be any closer to the end of this Leviathan-be-damned maze than they had been when they’d first entered it. In fact, he was almost certain they’d been on this very ledge not twenty minutes ago. Somehow, they’d managed to go in a circle on their most recent attempt.
“Sir… Are we missing something?” Elena queried, joining him at the edge and looking out over the maze. They could easily see the entrance from their present position.
“The exit, apparently,” he replied, with rather uncharacteristic sarcasm. He sighed and shook his head. Frustration always tended to make him a bit snarky. “Perhaps we should make our way back and start over. All we seem to be accomplishing at the moment is frustrating ourselves.”
“… Maybe we should split up?”
The Turk leader glanced over at his youngest Turk. “I’m not sure that’s wise…”
“But sir… we have a good view of most of the maze from here. If one of us stayed here, they could tell the other where to go next.”
“We’re still not even certain where the end of this maze is. It’s difficult to direct someone when you have no idea where you’re trying send them.” The woman’s shoulders sank slightly as she realized he was right, and Tseng smiled warmly. “The idea isn’t without merit. But I think it may be a bit premature without a solid destination in mind.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied with a disappointed sigh, and leaned back against the vine covered wall… only to vanish with a surprised shriek.
“Elena!?”
“I… I’m alright,” her voice replied, and a moment later, the woman pushed aside the foliage and stuck her head out of a narrow passage that had previously been hidden from view. “I… um… I think I might have found it, sir,” she added awkwardly, looking a bit embarrassed. Tseng chuckled and pulled the vines away from the opening, revealing the new path.
“Excellent work, Elena. Though I have to say… your methods are a bit unorthodox,” he said, teasing her slightly.
“Yes, sir,” Elena agreed, with a self-depreciating laugh. Tseng ventured into the corridor and down the stairs he found inside. They’d hardly reached the bottom when a loud rumbling shook the temple, very nearly knocking them to the ground. “What’s going on?!” she asked, waving the dust away from her face as it fell in tiny rivulets from the ceiling. Moments later, the movement stopped.
“We must have triggered something…” Tseng said grimly, turning to look back up the staircase. The opening they’d come through was no longer there. “It seems we won’t be leaving the same way we came in…”
“I’m starting to think this temple doesn’t want us here…”
“I certainly can’t disagree with that assessment,” he replied, “But we’ll accomplish nothing just standing here. Let’s keep going.”
The corridor, as it turned out, really was the maze’s exit. Or at least it dumped them into a new part of it… When they emerged, it was into an entirely new chamber with row after row of openings, several levels high. On the top level, Tseng could see a much more ornate doorway than any they’d yet passed through.
“I would venture to guess that that’s our next goal…”
“Well… one of these must lead up there,” Elena replied, peering into one of the dark passages. A moment later, she walked through it.
“Elena… wait!” Tseng called after her, but she was already gone. A moment later, she emerged several doors down from him.
“Not that one, I guess…”
“If you could perhaps refrain from nearly giving me a heart attack, I would appreciate it. I get quite enough of that from Reno.”
“Sorry, sir…” she replied, not quite able to stop herself from grinning a little. “But you said yourself… we’re not going to get anywhere just standing around.”
Tseng sighed and shook his head. “I suppose I did, didn’t I? Well… we’ve already eliminated one door.” He stepped forward, and walked through the one in front of him… and stepped out of the same one Elena had. The Wutaiian Turk blinked in confusion, and looked back the way he’d come. He was certain their hadn’t been any other passages connecting to the one he’d just walked through. How had they ended up in the same place? “Well, that was interesting…”
“Maybe that one?” Elena postulated, walking back to where they’d begun and taking the far left doorway. A few seconds later, she found herself standing behind Tseng again.
“They can’t all lead to the same place…” he said, frowning. The other Turk resolutely walked past him to the door on the far right instead… and came out on the far left. She turned around and walked back through and this time stepped out of one of the doors on the level above them.
“Sir… This shouldn’t be possible…” she called down to him.
“Stay there.” He quickly mirrored her movements, and found himself standing beside her once again. “Curious…”
“Bizarre is more like it…”
He had to admit… bizarre was a very apt description. There had been no indication that he was moving upwards. Each of the passages had seemed as though they were roughly the same distance, even though they clearly were not.
“Hmm… It seems we’ll have to do this by trial and error.”
Elena looked up at their goal and shook her head. “You know… My brother always loved this sort of thing. It’s too bad he never made it inside.”
“I certainly wouldn’t mind having his expertise to aid us at the moment, myself,” he replied, and then paused for a moment, choosing his next words with care. “I… take it you came to the same conclusion that I did when Rufus told us about this place, then. That it was your brother and part of his team who were lost trying to open the temple previously.”
Elena sighed softly and nodded.
“I wasn’t sure if I should pass along my suspicions to you or not. You haven’t mentioned him since Christmas… at least not to me,” Tseng added.
She still hadn’t pulled her gaze away from the doorway above them. “I guess it’s still kind of hard to talk about. I don’t really bring him up around Reno, either. Sometimes, I want to, but it just seems so random… especially since he never even met Bel. And other times I don’t even want to think about him… and that feels horrible, because he was my brother and I miss him.”
Tseng let his hand rest on Elena’s shoulder, and she finally looked back at him. “I doubt Reno would care how random it seemed. Nor would I, for that matter… I may not often say so, but you’re every bit as important to me as Reno and Rude are.” He smiled slightly and chuckled. “And considerably less of a headache most of the time. You’re always welcome to talk to me.”
She said nothing… just looked at him a little tearfully for a moment. By the time he’d managed to gauge her intentions, it was much too late. She was already hugging him.
He mentally sighed… he’d walked right into that. Really, he ought to have been used to it by now… Reno made a fairly regular habit of shamelessly invading his personal space pretty much whenever he felt like it. But the rigidity of Tseng’s upbringing had been deeply engrained in him by his one-time father. He’d never quite managed to let go of it entirely. Not that he didn’t make an effort to try.
At the moment, however, this little interlude had gone on quite long enough… something Elena seemed to have realized, as well, as she finally released him, her face having taken on a noticeably red hue.
“Sorry, sir…” she said, awkwardly. “This really isn’t the time for… er… that sort of thing, is it…”
He couldn’t help but laugh softly. “No… It really isn’t. But I think we can let it slide this once. Now… let’s we see what we can do about getting ourselves up to that door, shall we?”
“There yeh are, my dear…” Ward said as she shut down the mako therapy machine. “That should just about finish things up. Let’s see yeh up on yer feet…”
Lira swung her legs over the side of the bed, and took a deep breath, bracing herself for the familiar ache as she slowly stood and let her injured leg take her weight. It never came. She looked up in surprise.
“That’s it?” she asked, somewhat excitedly. The pain had been decreasing with every treatment, but this was the first time it had been entirely gone.
“I should certainly hope so. We’ve been at it long enough…” the doctor said with a smile. Lira took a few tentative steps forward and laughed. It felt perfect… as good as new.
“No more sittin’ around in hospitals for ages with nothin’ to do?” she asked, grinning now.
“Not so long as yer easy on it for a bit. It’s fresh-healed… so it’s liable ta end up a bit tender if yeh go and overwork it right away. So… no standing for long periods and no running or jumping or whatever other asinine activities yeh might be partial ta trying out after being on crutches for so long. I want yeh ta start out with short walks ta build up strength in the joint again. And if yeh notice any swelling or if things start ta feel sore, yer ta keep off of it, get some ice on it immediately, and call me if it’s not better by the morning.”
Lira’s grin widened. Sweet, sweet mobility at last! She was going to burn those damn crutches when she got home. Dr. Ward snickered quietly.
“Well, I certainly recognize that look. Yeh be sure and do as I said… I don’t want yeh winding up in the emergency room later tonight like a certain other patient of mine’d be liable ta…” She clucked her tongue softly and sighed. “Thank Shiva I don’t have more like that one. I’d’ve been driven ta madness by now.”
The grin fell slightly, but Lira bit her tongue… much as she agreed with that sentiment. Though in her case, she didn’t mean it in nearly as teasing a fashion as the aging doctor. She wondered if Ward even knew the truth about Reno and Sector 7… Probably not, she mused. Shinra had gone out of its way to pin the blame on Avalanche. Even some of the people she’d spoken to before had begun to change their tune, doubting what they’d heard. She was sorely tempted to correct them… and might have even done so under normal circumstances. But Shinra was dangerous, and she had a baby on the way… The last thing she needed was to paint a target on her back… so she’d kept quiet and intended to continue to do so.
“Something on yer mind?” Ward suddenly asked, and Lira quickly shook her head.
“Oh… no. I’m fine.”
The doctor smiled indulgently. “Yer worried about that redheaded pain in my backside, aren’t yeh? I suppose that’s something we’ve got in common.” She sighed and finished jotting down a few notes. “Ta be honest I would’ve liked ta keep him on leave a bit longer. That boy pushes himself too hard sometimes, and I know Dr. Quaid is none too happy about him missing appointments ta go off gallivanting after whatever foolishness Shinra’s new president has them chasing.”
She sighed again and set the clipboard down. “But Elena didn’t have a choice in going or staying… and I just couldn’t bring myself ta separate them right now.” Ward frowned slightly and seemed to realize what she was saying. “And as for me… I should darn well know when ta button my lips at my age. Friend of his or not, I’ve no right ta be discussing any of this with yeh without his consent. I must be just a wee bit more concerned about my favorite little headache than I realized.”
Lira forced a smile. “I’m sure Reno will be fine. He always is…” she said. She may have been angry with the Turk, but Dr. Ward had been nothing but kind to her. Maybe she should tell the doctor everything she knew… but why upset her needlessly?
“Well… I can hardly pull him off duty now, anyway. No sense in worrying over what’s already done, I suppose.” She gently escorted Lira into the hallway. “Now, then… Like I said, yeh take it easy for a bit and work up ta more activity gradually. I don’t expect ta see yeh for at least a few weeks this time… not until yer next checkup for the little one. But yeh be sure and give me a call if yeh have any concerns before then.”
Lira smiled a much more genuine smile this time. “Thank you… I will,” she replied, and gave the doctor a nod before turning and walking towards the elevators. The ride down was spent in silence. Something Ward had said bothered her a little. What appointments had Reno been missing, exactly? As the elevator chimed and doors opened on the first floor, she told herself that she didn’t care.
Even so, for some inexplicable reason, she found herself stopping in front of the large staff directory in the main lobby and scanning it for the name of the other doctor Ward had mentioned. She finally located it about halfway through the massive directory. Dr. Felicia Quaid… She was listed under the psychology department.
She blinked in surprise. Reno was seeing… or supposed to be seeing… a therapist? And what’s more, Ward didn’t seem to think he should be back on the job yet. Maybe she did know what really happened after all. But more to the point, were things really that bad with the redhead that the doctor was willing to let him put himself back to work when he shouldn’t be in the field at all just so he could stay with Elena?
Lira walked out of the hospital feeling slightly dazed. She was angry – furious – with her friend… former friend… whatever the hell he was. She still hadn’t decided. But now she couldn’t help but admit that she was worried about him, too.
“This is utterly ridiculous…” Tseng muttered under his breath as Elena popped out of one of the doors on the bottom level again. He heard her practically growl in frustration, and he shared the sentiment. Their destination was always just out of reach. They’d been doing this idiotic little dance for half and hour, and didn’t seem to be getting any closer at all.
Elena stormed back the way she came, and when she didn’t reappear below him, the Turk leader glanced towards the doors to his right, expecting to see her there once again. When he didn’t, he started to worry.
“Sir!” a voice above him suddenly shouted, the cry decidedly victorious, and he looked up, slightly shocked to see the younger Turk exactly where they wanted to be.
“Finally…” he breathed, “I was beginning to think this was nothing more than an exercise in futility…”
“… Er… I kind of hate to ask, sir, but… Were you paying attention to which doors I took?” the young woman asked, awkwardly. “I… I think I might have been getting a little irritated towards the end there… I’m not quite sure of the sequence.”
Tseng smirked slightly and vanished though the second door from the left. Reno was right… Elena really did need to work a bit on her focus. It was a subject that had come up a number of times in their meetings prior to her promotion. The redhead had asked his advice on several occasions. It was part of the reason Tseng had decided to start her on materia training when he had. Above all else, materia use required focus.
A dozen and a half doors later, he finally emerged from the one on the bottom level that had so frustrated the young woman, and reversed course, walking back the way he came. He stepped out onto the top level, next to his fellow Turk.
“Yes… I was, in fact, paying attention,” he said, finally answering her query and chuckling softly at her expression. He turned to the wooden door in the center. “Let’s hope this was worth the effort.”
The pair of them had to push hard against it before it swung inward, and when it did, both Turks were momentarily rendered speechless as torches along the walls flared to life. They stepped inside cautiously, eyes turned to the detailed decorations.
“Sir… That’s this temple…” Elena said, gazing at the first panel of a mural that spanned the entire length of the chamber. She was right, Tseng realized as he stepped forward for a closer look. Along the top of the panel was what looked like some form of ancient writing, but though it bore a passing resemblance to Wutaiian glyphs, he couldn’t read it. Interestingly, in the center of the temple was drawn a symbol that he did recognize. It was the same one certain temples in Wutai used to represent a guardian summon materia that was housed there… though, to his knowledge, few, if any, of those materias still remained in their temples. Shinra had long since captured them as spoils of war. It was an elongated crystal standing on it’s point. But where the depictions he was familiar with were always red in color, this one was a dark charcoal, leaving it black as night in the flickering torchlight.
“Perhaps a clue to what is kept here,” he said moving on to the next panel. This one showed people… Cetra, he presumed… moving, as though in procession towards the next image. On the third panel, the temple appeared again, but smaller now, and the materia-like symbol hovered above it as the people looked on. In the next, the temple was gone, but the materia remained, commanded by one of the Cetra. In the sky above him, a massive object was descending… careening… towards the planet.
The final panel showed nothing less than the world in flames. He shuddered slightly. What in Leviathan’s name did the Cetra lock away in this place?
Elena looked to be of much the same mind he was. “Sir… Whatever’s in here, we can’t let Sephiroth get ahold of it…” she said, eyes locked on that final image.
“That we most certainly cannot…” he agreed, and brushed past her toward a small altar at the far end of the chamber. Resting atop the altar was the temple in miniature, but little else. “There’s nothing else here…” he said in confusion. Elena joined him, peering down at it, curiously.
“Maybe… it opens somehow?” She touched the little model, and indeed one of the tiny statues at its base turned easily in her grasp. A moment later, the real temple shuddered in response. Elena jerked her hand back. “What did I do?!”
“I’m not certain,” the Turk leader replied, scanning the room for any sign that anything had changed. The last time the temple had shaken like that, their exit had been sealed. That, at least, was not the case this time. The door at the other end of the room still stood open. He frowned and looked back at the altar. “Elena… I want you to backtrack. Leave the temple if you have to, but contact the Highwind and tell them exactly what we’ve found. Have them get someone down here that knows something about the Cetra and their little puzzles. Rufus must have ordered someone to come along.”
“W-what about you, sir?”
“I’ll stay here. Sephiroth must not be allowed to obtain whatever it is the Cetra left behind.”
“But… you can’t take on Sephiroth on you own…” Elena replied, slightly aghast by the very suggestion.
“No… but I can destroy whatever this mechanism is, and prevent him from taking it,” he said, and smiled faintly, “I would, however, prefer to return home in one piece. So if you could hurry, I would greatly appreciate it.”
“Y-yes, sir.” She started towards the door, intent on making her way back to the temple entrance as quickly as she could. At the opening, she paused. “Tseng?” she called back to the Wutaiian Turk, and he looked up at the sound of his name, “Be careful.”
Tseng nodded. “I will. Now go.”
“YOU’RE MISSIN’ SOME PRETTY NICE SCENERY, PARTNER…” Reno’s voice all but shouted in his ear, causing Rude to startle violently. He looked up from the research journal he’d been engrossed in, glaring at the impishly grinning redhead beside him, and turned down the master volume control for their headsets before responding.
“I’ve seen it before. This is more interesting.”
“Tch… if you say so.”
“Wanna hear some of it?” Rude asked. It actually had been an interesting read. Disturbing… but interesting.
“… As long as you’re not gonna tell me about any of Hojo’s weird bedroom fetishes. My dreams are fucked up enough right now. I definitely don’t need to add that onto the pile.”
Rude frowned and closed the book on his lap, setting it aside. They hadn’t really talked about thatsubject while they’d been in Nibelhiem. In fact, they’d talked more about his issues than the redhead’s… and Reno hadn’t seemed overly perturbed by the omission.
“How bad are they?” he finally asked. There was no sense beating around the bush. With his friend, the direct approached was almost always preferred. Reno really didn’t do subtle.
He groaned and flipped the autopilot switch. “Figured you’d be askin’ me that eventually…” He was silent for a few moments. “It varies,” Reno said at last.
“Meaning?”
“Meanin’ it varies,” he replied with a shrug. “Sometimes they scare the ever-livin’ crap outta me… and sometimes they just leave me feelin’ kinda on edge. Never know what I’m gonna get when I fall asleep. Bein’ around ‘Lena helps, though. I think I can kinda tell she’s there, even when I’m out cold.”
Rude snorted a soft laugh and shook his head.
“What’s so goddamn funny?” the redhead asked.
“You.”
Reno narrowed his eyes at his friend, looking vaguely offended.
“Well, I’m just so glad we had this little heart to heart,” he quipped, and folded his arms over his chest… ignoring the controls just a bit more than he really should have been. Rude smirked. He wasn’t really upset. Just waiting for him to offer more of an explanation…
“I just never thought I’d see you like this.”
“Traumatized?” the redhead asked, with a faint smirk of his own.
“You know what I mean,” Rude stated, and reached for him, deftly plucking the photo from the other man’s breast pocket. He chuckled softly at the familiar image. Reno hadn’t simply asked him for a copy of it. He’d practically bribed him, offering to pick up the entire tab that Friday at the Phoenix Nest. In fact, it had been that same night that Rude had become convinced that the two of them belonged together. “You were gonna be a life-long bachelor… You told me so the day we met. Now you’re marrying your soulmate.”
Reno rolled his eyes. “Bullshit. She hasn’t said yes. I haven’t even asked her.”
“But you will. And she will. Don’t know why you’re still putting it off.”
“So… ’bout those nightmares…” the redhead muttered, quickly changing the subject, and Rude laughed.
“Wimp,” he teased, and reached into his own pocket, pulling out a small box.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake… What? You been carryin’ that ring around with you this whole time, just in case I suddenly need to get engaged?”
“Something like that,” Rude chuckled, and tucked it back into his jacket. Actually… that was exactly what he was doing. If Reno finally decided to ask her, he wasn’t going to risk giving him the opportunity to talk himself out of it. Reno shook his head and turned his eyes back to the view outside the cockpit. Rude, however, could see the hint of a smile on his face. “So what are you dreaming about, anyway?”
Reno, leaned back in his seat, still gazing through the windshield. “It depends on what’s on my mind. At first it was Sector 7… different shit, but always the same outcome. At the end of it, I always lost ‘Lena and Tseng… and you. Those were the worst. Haven’t been havin’ ’em so much lately, though, thank Ifrit. That shit was really messin’ with me.”
“How about now?” Rude asked.
“Like I said… depends what’s on my mind. ‘Lena tell ya what happened with Lira before we left for Junon?”
Rude shook his head.
“… She found out Shinra ordered the plate drop. Fuckin’ Wall Market rumor mill doesn’t miss much. Confronted me about it and… yeah. She’s not speakin’ to me anymore.”
“… Sorry.”
The redhead shrugged. “Can’t say I blame her. And I wasn’t stupid enough to think there was no chance she might find out eventually. Still hit me hard, though. Dreamed I found her wanderin’ the ruins that night… with the baby in her arms. It wasn’t movin’.”
“…” Rude didn’t have the faintest idea what to say to that. He knew how Reno felt about Lira… He’d known her nearly half his life. She was as much family to the redhead as he and Tseng and Elena were.
“Tch… and then there’s you, you goddamn bastard,” he suddenly went on, turning back towards the bald Turk, with a hint of laughter in his eyes. “You had to go and make me think you were ticked at me over somethin’. You’re just lucky ‘Lena’s a lot more rational than I am sometimes… After Gongaga, I had myself half-convinced you thought I was wrong for followin’ orders and activatin’ the release system.”
“I’d never be mad at you for following orders…” the bald Turk replied, in a surprised tone. His stomach twisted uncomfortably at the thought, however. It hadn’t occurred to him that Reno might have interpreted their interrupted conversation on the outskirts of the little village like that.
“Yeah, I know,” Reno sighed, “Look, I’ll be honest. I know orders are orders… we were both taught that from the second we were recruited. But that one… I can’t help thinkin’ maybe it shoulda been the exception. I’ve done shit that I knew was wrong before… but never that wrong. And when I started thinkin’ that you might blamin’ me for not havin’ the balls to say no… fuck. I’m glad ‘Lena was around to talk some sense into me. ‘Cause that coulda got real bad, real fast, ya know?”
“… Didn’t mean to scare you.”
Reno flashed him a smile. “Not that hard to do right now, partner. Face it… I’m a mess.” He reached for the controls and made a slight correction to their flight path before allowing the auto pilot to take over again. “Fuck, man… There are days when I start out feelin’ great, and by the time I’m fallin’ asleep, I’m seriously wonderin’ if I should even be in the field yet. I wanna be. And I know you guys need me out here. But I also don’t wanna put anyone at risk.”
Rude reached over and placed the photo he’d stolen back in the redhead’s pocket. “Stop worrying so much. You’re not putting anyone at risk. If anything, I think this is making you more careful.” He gently ruffled the younger man’s hair, earning himself an irritated glare from his friend. He hated when people did that… always said it made him feel like a little kid. Ward did it to him constantly.
“… Rude, if you ever manage to grow any goddamn hair, I swear I’m gonna pay you back for every Ifrit-forsaken time you’ve ever done that to me.”
Rude simply chuckled and leaned back in his seat.
Tseng studied the massive wall mural, still convinced that it could tell him what the Cetra had secreted away in their temple.
“This… can’t be the Promised Land,” he said aloud, when he came again to the final panel. The people depicted were dying, their world burning. That was no paradise. But then… if whatever was here didn’t lead to the Promised Land, what was Sephiroth’s interest in the temple? Tseng shook his head… He was hardly an archaeologist. Interpretation of ancient artwork was definitely not his forte.
Without warning, the fine hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and he froze. He wasn’t alone.
The Wutaiian Turk turned slowly, one hand drawing his gun… only to come face to face with the one person he’d hoped to avoid running into.
“Sephiroth,” he greeted him, his outward calm masking the fear that was rapidly coursing through his veins.
And it was Sephiroth… Tseng no longer had any doubt of that. Though the man looked as though he hadn’t aged a day in five years. He still stood as tall and strong as ever, long silver hair free in a cascade down his back, the legendary Masamune in his hand. His eyes still glowed with the same green hue of mako, though they seemed brighter now than they had before.
“So… you opened the door. Well done,” the legendary Soldier said, smiling cruelly, and Tseng shivered slightly at the familiar voice. He’d known Sephiroth… briefly. When the Meaningless War had begun, very few Wutaiian personnel had remained in Shinra’s employ. Tseng had thus been the tapped to brief the man on several aspects of his homeland. They’d spent nearly four weeks together going over everything from Wutaiian customs and religious beliefs to fighting styles and local terrain. He couldn’t honestly say he’d truly gotten to know the Soldier on a personal level… but he was certainly familiar enough with the professional side of Sephiroth.
Tseng took a step toward him, but quickly thought better of it and held his ground. “This place… What is it?”
Sephiroth turned to the mural, gesturing toward the artwork. “A lost treasure house of knowledge. The wisdom of the Ancients…” he replied, and then turned his gaze on the Turk again. “The wisdom that will allow me to become one with the Planet.”
“One with the Planet… ?” Tseng repeated, eyes narrowed in suspicion. He didn’t know what that meant exactly, but it didn’t exactly sound… sane. Not that he had any illusions that Sephiroth was the least bit mentally stable after what he’d done in Nibelheim.
“You’re all fools. You… your insignificant little company… and its insignificant little president. It never even occurred to you, did it? All the spirit energy of this Planet. All of its wisdom… its knowledge… I will meld with it all. I will become one with it. It will become one with me.”
“How?” the Turk asked. His finger was tense on the trigger of his weapon. He’d probably only have one chance… so he’d have to make it count. If he could keep the man talking… keep him distracted… he might at least have better odds at getting a fatal shot off before Sephiroth could stop him.
Sephiroth laughed and lifted his sword. “The way… lies here,” he replied, pointing the weapon toward the altar at the far end of the room. “A pity you won’t get to witness it firsthand. Only deaths awaits you.”
He’d waited too long… or something had given his intent away. Whatever the case, it was now or never, because in another few seconds he was likely to be lying on the floor in several pieces. Tseng darted back, out of range of the massive sword, hoping to buy himself enough time to take the shot. He leveled the gun at the Soldier’s head and fired.
At almost the same instant, he felt the unpleasant sensation of cold steel penetrating him and Sephiroth’s face was suddenly mere inches from his own.
“But do not fear…” the man went on, as though the attack had never even happened. “For it is through death that a new spirit energy is born. Soon, you will live again… as part of me.”
Tseng grunted in pain as Sephiroth twisted the sword in his gut. A second later, he withdrew it, and the Turk dropped to his knees, hands clutching his abdomen. The pain didn’t even register. He just felt… cold. He could feel the blood already beginning to saturate his clothing as he collapsed entirely. Sephiroth knelt over his body and let a hand rest on his shoulder in a mocking gesture of comfort.
“I knew you once. And for that reason, I will allow you the short time you have left, instead of stealing it from you now, if you wish it,” he said, quietly to the Turk. Tseng grit his teeth and shoved a hand deep into the wound, hoping to staunch the flow of blood. Sephiroth smiled coldly. “I assumed as much,” he said, rising to his feet and wiping the blood from his blade. “I would like to stay and keep you company until then, but I’m afraid I have other guests arriving soon. Goodbye, Tseng.”
With that, he turned on his heel and left the Turk leader to die.
Leaving the temple had – rather surprisingly – been a far simpler task than entering. Elena found herself rising through the slab of stone at the entryway much sooner than she’d thought she would. Once outside, she pulled her PHS from her jacket and glanced at the screen.
No signal. With a groan, she realized that she’d have to trek back into the jungle to get in contact with the Highwind. She glanced at the little pedestal and wondered if she should take the Keystone with her. Doing so would keep others out… but it would also trap Tseng inside. If there were an emergency, he had no other exit. In the end, she left it where it was and hurried to cross the bridge in search of a signal. The sooner she spoke to the President, the sooner she could get back to Tseng.
Once on the other side, she rushed into the dense foliage, picking her way though branches and vines, and making her way back toward their original drop-off location.
Tseng staggered and fell against the wall, leaving behind a bright red handprint on the stone. His vision swam for a moment, but he forced himself upright again. Sephiroth was in the temple… Shinra had to be warned.
He had tried to destroy the mechanism in the altar… but it had proven far more difficult than he’d expected, and his strength was fading. When he’d realized his efforts would prove futile, he’d opted for plan B… getting a message to someone… anyone… outside of the temple before he succumbed to his injuries.
He was under no illusions that he might actually survive this. Even if he somehow did make it out of the temple and back on board the airship, the damage was done. He wasn’t certain he could have been saved even if he’d been attacked outside Midgar General. Sephiroth had known exactly what he was doing. He was dying, and he knew it… but he intended to do whatever he could to put a wrench in Sephiroth’s plans before he did.
By the time he reached the entry, he was breathing harshly and coughing up blood. He very nearly had to crawl into the little circular pattern on the stone floor. Somehow, though, he made it. He groaned as he felt the odd sensation of being pulled through solid stone and clenched his eyes shut. When he opened them again, he found himself slumped against the base of the pedestal at the temple’s entrance. With what little strength he had left, he reached over his head, and pulled the Keystone from its slot. Sephiroth might find ‘becoming one with the Planet’ rather difficult, trapped inside the Cetra temple.
He tucked the Keystone into his pocket and withdrew his PHS, laughing softly when he saw there was no signal. It just figured. Tseng sighed and let his head rest against the stone behind him, closing his eyes.
It was strangely peaceful here. A shame Sephiroth had to turn up and sully that natural tranquility. All in all, he supposed there were worse places to die. Veld’s last breaths had been taken in a filthy alley in the Sector 4 slums… Given the choice, Tseng found this preferable.
He had been taught never to fear death. Death was merely the next phase of existence… not really an end, and not really a beginning. Death should bring feelings of sadness and loss for friends and family separated from you… but never fear.
He was afraid, though… Not for himself, but for his Turks. Reno would probably take it the hardest of all of them, and he’d already suffered so much recently. When Veld had died, all of his Turks had keenly felt it, but Tseng had found himself utterly lost without his friend and mentor. Especially when, all of a sudden, he had realized that he now had to fill that role. Reno was more than ready for such a task, just as Tseng had ultimately been… but if his own experience was anything to go by, the redhead probably wouldn’t feel very ready.
Elena and Rude would hardly be immune, either. Nor Rufus, who, over the years, had come to depend on him… perhaps more than Tseng should ever have allowed. They would have to rely on one another more than ever… particularly given the threat they faced in Sephiroth.
His words had been no mere rantings of a madman… though the Soldier was undoubtedly quite mad. Sephiroth had a plan. He’d brought an entire country to its knees with less, and Tseng wasn’t about to write him off as too crazy to be dangerous now.
He hoped Elena hadn’t had the misfortune to run into him. The man hadn’t mentioned her… and Tseng suspected that he would have, if only to rub his face in it, if she had. With luck, she’d made it out well before he’d arrived. He rather hoped she would be the one to find him here… preferably while he still had a little time left. If would be nice to be able to say goodbye to at least one of his Turks. Veld hadn’t had that opportunity. Few Turks ever did.
A sudden commotion on the bridge interrupted his thoughts, and Tseng raised his head, expecting to see Elena… perhaps with a few members of Shinra personnel, bound for the altar room in the temple… and he silently thanked Leviathan that he had the chance to warn them.
But it was another familiar face, instead, that he caught sight of. In the distance, he could hear the voices of her approaching companions as well. Aerith paused just inside the door to the alcove.
“T-tseng?” she asked, clearly shocked. The Turk leader forced himself slowly to his feet.
“Tseng… Of the Turks?” a voice echoed nearby, and a moment later, Cloud Strife reached the top of the stairs as well.
“Why am I… not surprised… ?” he asked, smiling weakly. He winced and leaned his weight against the pedestal. “Listen… It’s not the Promised Land… Sephiroth is searching for.”
“Sephiroth?! He’s inside?!” Strife cried as more of his allies began to arrive. Tseng gestured to the altar.
“Yes… Trapped. For now. I doubt it will… contain him indefinitely,” he said, before turning his gaze back on Aerith. “Letting you go free for so long… was the start… of my bad luck,” he said, smiling at her. “I should have let you lead Shinra to the Promised Land… years ago.”
The young woman glared at him. “You’re wrong. The Promised Land isn’t like what you imagined,” she said, and turned her back on him. “And I wouldn’t have helped you, anyway.” She took several steps away from him, refusing to look back.
Tseng managed a soft laugh. “That sounds… like something you’d say. You were always… rather harsh with me…” He saw the woman’s shoulders slump, but she didn’t turn around. Instead, Tseng turned his attention to Cloud, and reached into his pocket. “Here…” he said, offering the small orb to the former-Soldier. If anyone might have a chance to stopping Sephiroth, it was a fellow Soldier. Besides… it wasn’t as if he could stop them from searching his corpse in a few more minutes. “The Keystone. Place it… on the altar.”
That done, he slowly dragged himself off to one side of the alcove and sank to the ground, breathing in ragged gasps.
“Aerith?” he heard Tifa say quietly, and the sound of a quiet sniffle met his ears.
“I know he’s our enemy… but I’ve known him since I was little. There’s not many people I can say that about. In fact, there are probably only a handful of people in the world who really know me…” she responded, tearfully. The Turk leader smiled faintly, and lifted his head, catching her eye. She didn’t look away this time.
“I’m sorry…” said Tifa, “But I don’t think there’s anything we can do for him.”
“Just go,” Tseng said. By now, whatever remained of his strength was virtually gone. It was hard to even keep his eyes open. “It’s much too late for me. Stop Sephiroth.”
He briefly considered giving them a message to pass along to his Turks. Aerith would do it for him, even if her companions refused. Ultimately, though, he decided against it. It would have been too personal to entrust to a third party. Even to the Cait Sith automaton that had finally bumbled its way into the small space that was rapidly growing over-crowded. As the other members of Avalanche walked past him to gather around the temple’s entrance, he locked eyes with the robotic cat. It nodded back at him before it joined its companions, and Tseng let his eyes close again.
At least Reeve could tell Shinra where to pick up his body. Cloud placed the Keystone on the pedestal, and moments later, Tseng found himself alone again.
“Yes, sir… I understand.”
Her phone barely had a signal, even this far from the temple. The responses she was getting from the Highwind were garbled and hard to understand, and she was fairly sure her own transmissions weren’t any better. But she was reasonably confident that Rufus had the general idea at this point. She’d told him about the altar room and the strange mechanism inside. He, in turn, had assured her that he would be sending down an antiquities expert to take a look. She was to wait there, and escort him into the temple.
She sighed and swatted at a bug that kept buzzing around her face. She would have preferred to have gone straight back to Tseng. Leaving him behind like that wasn’t sitting right with her. But he’d ordered her to go… and she understood the necessity of him staying to keep an eye on things inside. She just hoped this ‘expert’ would hurry and get down here.
She jumped slightly as her PHS rang unexpectedly and hurried to answer it. Rufus’s number glowed on the screen.
“Yes, sir?”
“Get back to the temple… Now!” the President’s voice demanded in a tone that, in spite of the poor connection, very clearly bordered on panic. She didn’t ask questions… just turned back towards the looming structure and intent on rushing back.
“On my way…” she said, already sweating in the thick, humid jungle air. “What’s going on?”
“Tseng’s spy… notified… Tseng was attacked… Sephiroth…” Rufus relayed to her, his voice already breaking up as she drew closer to the temple. Elena shoved the phone into her pocket and broke into dead run through the underbrush. She didn’t stop until she crossed the bridge.
“Tseng?!” the young Turk gasped, and for a short, horrifying moment, she thought she was already too late. At the sound of her voice, though, the Turk leader stirred slightly. Elena covered the distance between them in a few short strides, dropping to her knees next to his crumpled form. “No…” she whispered.
There was so much blood… it had pooled around him and already was soaking into the knees of her pant legs as she was pulling his hands away from the wound.
“Elena… Don’t bother.”
She looked up from the grisly sight, and saw that he was awake, watching her.
“We need to get you out of here.”
“I’m lucky… to have lasted… this long. There’s nothing…” he said, suddenly squeezing his eyes shut in pain before he could finish. She watched as he forced them open again. “I’m grateful… I have the chance… to say goodbye.”
“No… Tseng… Don’t talk like that. I’m going to get you –” she began, only go silent as the man went limp in her grasp. “NO!”
Elena fought back tears as her fingers sought out the artery in his neck, searching desperately for a pulse. It was still there… but it was fading. Fast. He was dying right in front of her.
No. She wasn’t going to let that happen. Tseng would have done anything in his power to save her life, and she wasn’t about to do anything less. With that thought in mind, she reached for the Full Cure materia in her pocket, holding it in her palm, and focusing on it with everything she had.
Viridia had warned her against using it, saying that it might take a heavy toll on her own body. And for that matter, she didn’t even know if she could cast any kind of spell with it… It was entirely possible that it was completely beyond her current skill level. But damned if she wasn’t going to try. The alternative was to sit there and do nothing while Tseng’s life drained away.
At first, nothing happened, and Elena could feel her desperation growing. She tried, again and again, to make the crystal respond to her will, but it remained stubbornly dark. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tseng’s chest rise and fall with the shallow breaths he was still drawing. And then it fell one final time and didn’t rise again.
“NO!” she screamed, unable to hold back the tears any longer. Without warning the crystal in her hand flared to life… and everything else went dark.
The helicopter had barely even touched down in Junon before Reno was fighting his way out of his restraint harness and hauling open the door. Rude actually had to sprint to catch up to him, having paused just long enough to seize the strap of the bag containing Hojo’s research and pull it over his shoulder. The redhead didn’t care at the moment… if Rude couldn’t keep up, that was his problem.
The call had come in just as they were passing over Gongaga… They’d been perhaps another twenty minutes or so from the coordinates Rufus had given them for the Cetra temple. It had been a brief conversation. The President had ordered them to Junon instead. Tseng had been injured… and judging by the faint waver in the young executive’s voice, it was serious. How serious, the man hadn’t elaborated on. They’d spent the last hour in utter silence, neither Turk wanting to speculate on what had happened.
But now they were here, and Reno was anxious… so was Rude, but where he had a habit of barging in and demanding answers, Rude preferred to keep a level head. That didn’t make his trip across the tarmac any slower, however, as Reno noted that he’d very quickly matched his pace, catching up to him.
Seconds after that fact had registered, however, he stopped short, spotting Lieutenant Commander Nacelle standing outside of the base’s medical facility, smoking a cigarette and looking more than slightly shaken. Reno felt a distinct chill settle over him. Viridia only smoked when she was extremely upset… and never where her subordinates might catch her at it.
As they approached, she caught sight of them as well, and dropped the cigarette, crushing it beneath her boot.
“Thank Kjata…” Viridia breathed. “I’ve been driving myself crazy, out here on my own.”
“Vir… What the fuck happened?” Reno asked.
“We don’t really know exactly. Tseng and Elena went into the temple… a couple hours later, Elena came out and called up to the Highwind that they’d found something and didn’t know quite what to make of it. The President was going to send some people from the antiquities department down, but then we got a message from Reeve Tuesti back in Midgar saying that Tseng had been attacked… I didn’t quite pick up on how the hell he knew that but Rufus certainly didn’t question it. He sent Elena back in, and that was the last we heard from them until the rescue team brought them both back to the airship.”
“How bad?” Rude asked, though judging by the look on the woman’s face, Reno was pretty sure he already knew the answer.
“Bad,” Viridia replied, motioning for the pair to follow her inside, “They’re still working on him. He’s holding on, but… they just don’t know yet. They won’t even give me odds of him making it off the table.”
The three of them made their way down the main corridor, though not, Reno noted, to the facility’s small waiting room. They passed it by, heading farther back, which didn’t exactly do much to alleviate his growing anxiety. Why had Viridia been the one to meet them? Why not Elena? Or even Rufus?
“What about ‘Lena?” he asked, “Where’s she at? Does she know we’re back yet?”
Instead of answering, Viridia glanced over at the redhead somewhat hesitantly, and pushed open the door to one of the rooms.
“Not… exactly…” she said at last.
Reno eyed the woman strangely but stepped inside… and came to a dead stop moments later. Rude very nearly walked into him as he tried to follow. The reason for his sudden halt must have become apparent to his partner almost immediately, because the redhead felt a hand come to rest against the back of his neck, squeezing supportively.
Rufus was standing next to the bed, apparently reading through the patient’s chart. He glanced up at the unexpected arrival of visitors. Elena lay motionless beneath crisp, white sheets, monitors beeping softly.
Reno was almost certain someone in the room was saying something to him. Who and what, however, were lost to the suddenly rushing sound in his ears that seemed to utterly deafen him. Knowing Tseng was grievously injured was one thing… he’d had the entire flight to prepare for bad news. But this… No one had told him to expect this.
He felt has though someone had just pulled the rug out from under him, and he must have staggered back a step or two, because Rude’s hands were suddenly holding his arms firmly from behind, keeping him upright.
Dear Ifrit… not her.
His chest suddenly felt as though he’d been kicked by an angry chocobo, and he couldn’t catch his breath. His heart was pounding so hard, he was half-convinced it might crack a rib… if it didn’t simply explode first… and his fingers tingled with slowly increasing numbness.
A part of his mind seemed to be screaming at him that he was dying… but if that was the case, there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it. And he was finding it hard to care at the moment. He wasn’t sure he wanted to live without her.
~fin~
Comments