Taking Care of Reno: Meteorfall
Chapter 20: Materia Hunting
“Come eat some lunch.”
Elena looked away from the window and the dreary sight beyond it long enough to spot Rude leaning against the doorframe the opened into the little cottage’s kitchen. She shook her head.
“No thanks. I’m not very hungry.” The rain was still coming down in torrents. She’d be amazed if the airstrip didn’t get washed out if it kept up much longer. The two remaining Turks had hoped to have been in the air by now, but the storm simply continued to rage. If it didn’t end soon, even if they did manage to get underway at some point today, they’d never make it to Corel before dark. The whole day was likely a wash.
“He won’t be gone long. Ward’ll have him back to work before you know it. Probably by the time we finish with the reactors.” The bald Turk glanced past her, out the window. “Maybe before we’re finished if this weather keeps up,” he added.
Elena sighed. She knew Rude was only trying to make her feel better, but honestly… it really wasn’t helping. She’d never given it much consideration before, for some reason… but Ward had the power to made or break any one of them. One word from the doctor, and they were sidelined. That’s all it took. If she felt she had to, Ward could send Reno back to Midgar indefinitely.
She hated to think what that would do to him… and she wasn’t sharing Rude’s optimism at the moment.
And if that did end up happening, Reno would be miserable. The redhead may have been slacker at heart… but when he truly had nothing to keep him occupied, he became restless and unhappy. As much as Reno liked to profess that he loved nothing more than a little time off, when he was bored, he was despondent… and he went to great lengths to alleviate his boredom. Which, if some of the stories he’d told her in the past were any indication, more often than not tended to get him into trouble of some sort. On top of that, knowing that she and Rude were still out there finishing the mission would just depress him further. Surely Dr. Ward must realize that…
Elena sighed as another thought occurred to her.
“Rude… Is this my fault… ?” she asked, uncertainty in her voice.
Rude groaned and removed his sunglasses, pinching the bridge of his nose… “Sweet, merciful Shiva… now he’s got you doing it.” He ignored her offended glare and walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder and pulling her around to face him properly. “How could any of this be your fault?”
“You obviously knew what was going on… but he was too embarrassed to tell me. He was trying to hide it from me.”
“Because, like I keep telling him, he’s an idiot. That’s not your fault. It’s on Reno. Don’t just let him off the hook for doing something dumb. He’ll never learn if you do that.”
“But…”
“Come on. We’re not going anywhere in this storm, and that meteor isn’t going to kill us all quite yet. Come eat, and then I’ll play you at chess or something. It’ll take you mind off things.”
Elena managed a wane smile. “Checkers is more my speed…” she replied, finally acquiescing to his request. Maybe taking a break from dwelling on Reno’s situation… and the planet’s situation… would help. It certainly wasn’t as if she could do much of anything about either stuck there Rocket Town, after all. “I’ve always been pretty terrible at chess.”
Rude smirked and ushered her into the kitchen, all but pushing her into a seat at the table, and setting a plate of lasagna in front of her. “Good. I’m not particularly great, either. Maybe I have at shot at winning for a change.”
She took a bite, savoring the rich tomato sauce and luscious cheese, before answering. “Tseng kicks your butt a lot, then?” she teased gently. To her surprise, Rude shook his head.
“If you can manage talk Tseng into playing board games it’s gonna be Go… which I’ve never understood at all, can’t play for shit, and generally despise the very existence of. Reno’ll occasionally play chess, though. If you can call it playing. He mostly just trounces me before I even realize I’ve lost.”
Elena blinked in surprise. “Really?”
Rude nodded. “To be fair, though. my mother used to do the same thing… but at least she let me win once in awhile. Reno doesn’t.”
“He’s never even asked me to play with him. He just keeps trying to get me into those ridiculously violent video games of his.”
“Video games are more entertaining,” Rude snickered. “He says chess is too easy. He likes a challenge. Or at least something with plenty of blood and explosions. Only plays if I badger him into it. Or bribe him.”
“Oh, come on, Rude… Chess is ‘too easy’ for him?”
The other Turk took a seat across from her, settling in to his own lunch and glanced up. “He’s not stupid…” he said pointedly.
“… Didn’t you, not five minutes ago, call him an idiot?” she pointed out. Rude chuckled. “But… seriously, Rude. There are people out there who make whole careers out of playing chess. You say that like Reno could beat them.”
Rude shrugged. “At the very least, he’d give ’em a decent game. You know you’ve got the Turks’ marksmanship record clinched by about a mile, right?”
Elena nodded, not quite sure what that had to do with anything… but, regardless, it was a distinction she was rather proud of. Not many could come close to her level of accuracy.
“Reno’s got the record on the strategy eval by about the same margin.” He laughed quietly into his napkin. “Veld made him retake it when his results came in. Thought he cheated somehow. And when he scored even higher the second time around, he made him take an IQ test.”
Her jaw dropped slightly. “W-what did it say?” she asked, somewhat incredulous. The other Turk grinned.
“… Inconclusive. He’s either secretly a genius, or he’s the best bullshitter on the planet. No one’s really sure which. Didn’t really seem to matter which, as far as Reno was concerned. He couldn’t have cared less. He was more interested in what the cafeteria was serving for lunch that day,” Rude replied. “It certainly shut a few people up, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s… just say there were one or two senior Turks when he and I came on board who didn’t think he was all that bright at first… Assholes who’d lived on the Plate their whole lives and just saw him as another low-class, uneducated slum rat.”
Elena frowned. It was a little disconcerting to think that, back in the day, the Turks weren’t the close-knit little family they were now. But then again… she hadn’t felt entirely welcome when she’d first been promoted, either – owing largely to Reno’s early ‘training’ methods – and she knew that Tseng had privately expressed some initial doubts about her. She wondered if everyone went through that uncomfortable period of adjustment before they proved that they belonged.
“So… Which do you think it is?” she asked, and Rude raised an eyebrow behind dark lenses. “Is he a genius, or a bullshitter?”
Rude laughed.
“Personally? I think he might be a little of both… but definitely more bullshitter than genius. Mostly, he just has a gift for strategic thinking,” the bald Turk chuckled. He shook his head. “Don’t read too much into it, Elena. I only mentioned it because you seemed so shocked he’d be good at something like chess.”
“It’s just so… not Reno,” she said, somewhat lamely. Rude snickered and lifted another bite with his fork.
“No argument there. Like I said… I have to badger and bribe him to get him to play at all. Even then, I think he only agrees because he knows I like the game.” He paused long enough to chew and swallow before going on. “But I think that’s a big part of why he is the way he is… why he occasionally gets overwhelmed and anxious. He sees too many possible outcomes sometimes, and too many ways to get to them. And it’s definitely not your fault that every once in awhile he freaks out when he takes a wrong turn.”
Elena frowned thoughtfully as she finished her plate. That… actually made a lot of sense when she thought about it.
“What are we going to do if Ward sends him home, Rude?” she asked.
“Follow orders and finish the mission,” Rude replied, succinctly. “But I don’t think it’ll come to that. Ward knows him too well to do that to him. For now, stay focused on our objective. We’ll cross that bridge if and when we come to it.”
Dr. Ward looked up from her present task and glared at him as he made his way into the medical bay.
“Hmph… Fine timing. If I didn’t know it was impossible, I’d swear yeh decided ta show up now just ta get out of the lecture I had planned for yeh,” she groused as she wrapped a long strip of gauze around a soldier’s freshly stitched arm. Apparently, she’d been recruited by the military staff to lend her expertise to more than just Tseng after today’s attack. Reno cringed at her tone. “Well? Don’t just stand there… Make yerself useful and bring me a fresh tray. I’ve got a whole line of people ta fix up before I can deal with yeh.”
The redhead obediently retrieved a tray of medical supplies from the stack she’d gestured to, silently bringing it over to her as Ward bustled off to the next patient. She took it from him, and set it on the table that swung out over the bed.
“Tseng’s waiting for yeh. I’ve already told him why yer back, and he’d like a word with yeh. If there’s anything left of yeh when he’s finished, yeh’ll be getting an earful from me, too… and then we’ll discuss what’s ta be done with yeh.”
Reno opened his mouth to reply, thought better of it, and wordlessly retreated down the hallway towards Tseng’s room. He wasn’t entirely sure if the the doctor was really as angry as she sounded or if she was simply focused on more urgent tasks at the moment and lacked the time to put more effort into being personable… but he’d been granted a brief reprieve, and he wasn’t going to push his luck.
Well, he silently amended, pausing in front of the door, a reprieve from her wrath, at any rate. He took a deep breath, releasing it slowly, and stepped inside. Maybe he’d luck out again and Tseng would be asleep.
“Sit down, Reno.”
No such luck. He walked across the room, taking up residence in the chair beside the bed.
“Explain yourself.”
Reno looked away and sighed.
“And look at me while you do.”
“Yes, sir,” he replied, forcing himself to raise his eyes to meet Tseng’s. “I… stopped taking the medication Ward prescribed for me.”
“Ordered you to take,” the Wutaiian firmly corrected him, “You would do well not to forget that. Particularly given that it was the sole condition of you remaining in the field, was it not?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And as a result, Elena found you curled up in a corner, unable to to calm yourself.”
The redhead visibly flinched. He hadn’t realized Rude had been so thorough in his report to the doctor… though it didn’t surprise him. Rude was thorough about everything.
“Yes, sir.”
“Just what would you have done if that had happened in a far less ideal setting? In the middle of retrieving your objective, for example… or had you been attacked en route to one of the reactors,” he asked gravely, his arms folded across his chest.
“… I don’t know, sir.”
“Hmm…”
Reno swallowed sharply. He had a feeling he knew what the next question was going to be.
“And why did you fail to follow Ward’s orders?”
He squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. “The first couple of times were an accident,” he admitted. “I was up all night tryin’ to sort through all the crap people kept handin’ me, and… I just forgot,” he replied, before noting the Turk leader’s unamused expression and quickly adding, “I know… that’s no excuse.”
“Why did you continue to disobey Ward’s orders?” Tseng asked, evenly. Reno had always hated this… Ever since he was a rookie, Tseng was the one person who could really intimidate him without even trying. He never shouted… he never raised a hand to him… but somehow, that unrelenting gaze never failed to render even the cockiest of his subordinates deferential and accommodating. Reno was no exception.
“… I…” He shut his eyes, dreading the reaction this was going to get. “… left the pills in Junon so ‘Lena wouldn’t find ’em. I didn’t want her to know I was takin’ ’em.”
“In other words, you placed your own vanity above the safety of your team. Even above Elena’s safety. I’m disappointed, Reno.”
He felt his mouth go dry at that. Reno could only recall Tseng uttering those words to him once before… and it had hurt as much then as it did now.
“Yes, sir.” It was far more of a whisper than he’d intended.
“As commander, you’re not only charged with the well-being of you team… You’re also expected to be an example for them to follow. Had Rude or Elena done something like this, you would be livid… and don’t try and tell me you wouldn’t. Leadership does not exempt you from holding yourself to the same standards you hold them to.”
“I know. It was a stupid thing to do.”
Really… what the hell had he been thinking? He was being perfectly honest when he’d said that the first two or three skipped doses had been a legitimate lapse in memory… but after that? That had been intentional. He’d arrogantly decided that he didn’t need it that badly and opted to forgo it rather than risk appearing weak in front of Elena. And the worst part was… she’d fucking found out anyway. In the most degrading, humiliating way he could have imagined. If he’d just done what Ward had told him to do in the first place, he wouldn’t be in this mess.
He suddenly realized that Tseng hadn’t said anything further. Instead, he was looking at the younger man expectantly.
“… So… What now?” Reno finally had to ask, as it became clear that his mentor had decided to place things firmly in his court.
“I suppose that is the only question that really matters now, isn’t it? But as it happens, it’s not up to me this time.”
The redhead mentally groaned. Tseng was right. It wasn’t up to him… it was up to Ward. If the doctor stripped him of command until further notice and ordered him back to Midgar, he’d be on the next transport home whether he liked it or not.
“Think Ward’ll give me another chance?”
“I have little doubt of that. She’s always had a rather persistent soft spot for you. But it wasn’t Justinia I was referring to,” Tseng replied. Reno blinked in surprise. He supposed that technically Heidegger could sideline him… though the pompous asshole had never cared about any of the Turks enough to bother with such things before. Rufus certainly could as well… but he had bigger things to worry about at the moment. The Turk leader seemed to sense his confusion on the issue. “Reno… You are in command. Stop concerning yourself so much with the decisions you can’t control, and worry about the ones you can. What do you intend to do should Ward clear you for duty?”
He didn’t even have to think about that.
“My job.”
“Good. And I expect this time, you will follow orders.”
Reno leaned back in the chair. As reprimands went, this had been a surprisingly mild one… in all aspects but one. One, and only one, other time had Reno done something idiotic enough to truly let Tseng down. He’d vowed to never let it happen again. Somehow, though, he’d failed, and that knowledge stabbed at him.
“I’m sorry, Tseng. I never meant to be such a disappointment.”
The Wutaiian shook his head, and reached for his lieutenant, taking hold of his hand. “I am deeply disappointed in your actions,” Tseng replied. “But I do not, and have never, considered you a disappointment.”
Hearing that, he wasn’t ashamed to admit, was a relief. There weren’t many people in the world who’s opinion of him actually mattered to Reno. Tseng was one of the very few.
“I won’t torment you any further. You’ve still got Justinia to deal with, after all. If you’re feeling up to lending a hand before she comes after you, I suspect they could use some help outside. Just how bad is it this time?”
“Lotta debris… Didn’t look like too much structural damage, though. ‘Course I was kinda thinkin’ more about other things on the way in,” he replied, grateful for the change of subject. “Don’t know if you heard… but they actually manage to take down Sapphire.”
“Mmm… I had wondered about that. I heard quite a lot of cheering after that second canon blast… but I fear keeping me up to date on the current threat status has not been anyone’s priority today. I can only assume that Viridia has her hands just as full as Ward’s are.”
He didn’t come right out and say it, but Reno had no trouble picking up on the faint note of concern in Tseng’s voice at the mention of the security chief’s name. And the redhead was quick to seize on the opportunity to begin to make up for his previous lapse in judgment.
“Saw her on the way in… She’s gonna be busy for awhile. But she’s okay.”
“That… is good to know,” Tseng replied with a tired smile.
Elena groaned softly and let her head fall into her arms on top of the table. Twelve. In a row. Chess was definitely not her game. Rude, meanwhile, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself with an opponent that he, as he’d quickly discovered, significantly outclassed.
“Okay…” she said, her voice muffled in her sleeves, “I give. Can we switch to something else now?”
“I guess I could beat you at poker for awhile, instead…” the other Turk teased her. Elena smirked in her hidden position, and a moment later calmly raised her head. If there was one game she was good at, it was poker. Many years of summers spent in Veraheim had fine-tuned her skills. Nana had taught her granddaughter well.
“What are we betting?” she asked.
Rude chuckled, and began putting away the chess pieces. “There should be poker chips around here somewhere. Dad had a weekly game with the neighbors for years before he got sick. Wouldn’t want you running short on funds just because we’re bored and have nothing better to do.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” she asked, innocently, smiling slightly. She had to hand it to Rude… he’d been right about her needing a distraction. She was still decidedly worried about Reno, but things didn’t seem quite so desolate with the addition of the impromptu activities.
Rude gave a soft snort of laughter and shrugged. “Don’t blame me when you’re broke, then… I play for keeps.”
His electro-mag rod crackled threateningly, and the two men who’d been seconds from hurling a brick through a nearby shop window quickly backed down, turning tail and running roughly in the direction of the base’s main elevator. He’d suspected they’d snuck in from lower Junon in the chaos after the attack… their direction of flight pretty much confirmed it.
He didn’t bother chasing them. The older of the two couldn’t have been more than sixteen. They were just a couple of kids looking to cause trouble and maybe score some free merchandise. And given that the younger member of the duo had looked like he was about to shit himself, Reno didn’t think they’d be sticking around the base. The redhead smirked and gave the EMR a quick twirl before turning and sauntering off in the opposite direction.
“Decided to join the security corps, have we?”
Reno turned toward a narrow alleyway and spotted Viridia striding purposefully toward him.
“Not that I’m complaining,” she continued, “I could use the help. It has been a nightmare getting things to settle down around here.”
“Anything ya need, Vir… I’m just killin’ time, waitin’ for the Doc to kill me.”
“Ha! What kind of trouble are you in now, you little degenerate?” Viridia teased. Reno sighed and shook his head. “… Is it really that bad? What’d you do?”
“More what I didn’t do. Kinda disobeyed a direct order from the Doc. Tseng wasn’t real happy about it… and Ward’s gonna rip me a new one, soon as her workload dies down.”
The security chief raised an eyebrow. “That’s not like you…”
“Yeah… well… ya might not’ve noticed, but I haven’t quite been myself lately,” he admitted. The two of them turned onto the main roadway and ducked into the large tunnel that ran beneath the massive canon.
“You wanna talk about it? I mean, I know we’re not exactly as close as you and Tseng are, but… if you need to unload, I don’t mind. I get a lot of that sort of thing from newbies. Practically part of my job description these days.”
He hesitated a moment before answering. “… That offer good for later? Like, for instance, after Ward disembowels me? I’m kinda tryin’ not to think about shit right now.”
Viridia smiled warmly. “I’m off duty at seven. We can talk over dinner, okay? Assuming nothing else goes wrong today. In the meantime… how would you feel about joining me down there?” She nodded towards the tunnel leading downward, away from the city and out towards the ocean… and the underwater reactor. “Commander Yorik wants the reactor facility, the sub docks, and the underwater causeway scouted before he’ll give the all-clear to the repair teams. And until the repair teams shore things up we can’t resume the materia recovery from the reactor. All my people are busy keeping things in line topside… and I hate going down there alone.”
“Heh… Guess I’m in the escort business today.”
“Professional escort, huh? I thought you claimed to have a girlfriend…”
The redhead rolled his eyes. “Back off, Vir. Lame jokes are my department.”
“Oh, come on,” she teased, unlocking the entrance to the lower tunnel with her security badge. “That was funny!”
“Well… ?”
Rude looked down at his nearly non-existent cash supply and then at the pile in the center of the table. If he lost this hand, he was done… and Elena was looking just a little too happy about that.
Unfortunately for her, Rude was currently holding the best hand he’d been dealt all afternoon. If he’d had a little more cash on him, he could raise her one last time and win back everything he’d lost and then some. He frowned, looked directly at the female Turk, and removed his sunglasses, tossing them onto the pile. Elena giggled and shoved the rest of her money in.
“I call. Show me what you’ve got.”
Rude smirked and laid his cards down on the table, revealing the seven, eight, nine, ten, and jack of clubs.
“Straight flush,” he said with a smug grin, reaching for the pot.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Elena chided, stopping him from claiming his prize. She fanned out her own cards on the table and Rude’s face immediately fell. “Royal flush. Read ’em and weep.”
“… You’re officially banned from Turks’ poker night.”
“Since when do we have a poker night?” she asked, pausing in her collection of her winnings to look across the table at him.
“We don’t. But I’m going to start one just so I can ban you from it.”
Elena giggled again and picked up the sunglasses, slipping them on. “Like Nana always says… Never bet against a Brewer.”
Rude shook his head, laughing softly and leaned back in his chair. “Well… at least you’re in a better mood now.” It was true. Between having her ass handed to her at chess… and then returning the favor by cleaning him out in their poker game… Elena seemed to have lost her somewhat melancholy demeanor from earlier.
“Thanks for helping with that,” she replied. “I’m still worried about him, though.”
“Reno can handle a verbal beat down. Won’t be the first time. Besides… I think he needs to hear it at this point. Can’t just let him wallow in self pity forever. We’ve both been babying him.” He smirked slightly. “You, I can understand… but I should know better by now.”
Elena peered over the tops of her appropriated sunglasses. “And just what’s that supposed to mean?”
“… Just that he’s got you wrapped around his finger,” he teased, “One look at those sad little puppy dog eyes he’s so good at pulling, and you want to comfort him… when what he really needs is a kick in the ass.”
“Are you implying that I’m a pushover?” she scoffed, vaguely offended.
The bald Turk chuckled softly. “Only where Reno’s concerned.”
Elena glared at him and picked up the deck of cards. “Just for that…” she began, and squeezed it into a small arch. Rude immediately sat up, but before he could tell her not to, the entire deck leapt from her fingertips a few cards at a time, flying into the air and landing, scattered, all around him. Elena crossed her arms over her chest and smiled. “New game. Fifty-two Card Pickup. You can go first.”
“Uh… Why do I get the feeling this thing’s not s’posed to be leakin’ like that?”
“Relax… it’s leaking from a weld. As long as the dome hasn’t been compromised, we’re fine,” Viridia replied, noting the number – A-5 – stenciled on the support beam and jotting it down in her notebook. “It’s probably not the only one. Repair crews’ll be busy tonight.”
She started down the tunnel again, and Reno trailed her, glancing briefly back over his shoulder at the little waterfall that had formed on one side of the domed causeway. He hoped she knew what she was talking about. He was pretty damn good swimmer… but they were easily two hundred feet or more underwater at the moment. The redhead had his doubts about being able to make it that far if something went catastrophically wrong.
His eyes followed the metal supports along the ceiling, carefully looking for any other signs of damage from Weapon’s rampage. All seemed sound, however… and beyond the transparent membrane that enveloped them, he could make out the shadowy figures of sea life returning to the bay.
“Huh. Looks like we lost some of the exterior lights, too,” Viridia commented, following his gaze and making another note.
“Thought it seemed a lot darker out there than I remembered…” The only other time he’d been down here had been years ago. He and a senior Turk by the name of Ashland had accompanied the former-President Shinra as security during an inspection… and he definitely remembered being able to clearly see the creatures that had been swimming around the enclosed walkway.
The the underwater docks and the reactor loomed ahead of them, and as Viridia had predicted, they encountered a few more small leaks that had formed along some of the welded seams in the causeway’s shell. None of them seemed to concern her much, however, and when they at last reached the end, she swiped her badge, releasing the lock on the door.
“Oh… Rufus is not going to be happy about that,” she said almost as soon as they’d cleared the airlock… and the redhead had little difficulty in spotting the problem. One of the four docked subs was partially underwater, which normally wouldn’t have been an issue, given that it was supposed to spend most of its time underwater… except that it was also laying on its side. A second submarine had been dislodged and forced up onto the dock itself, a deep gouge in its hull, and the third and fourth, though undamaged as far as he could tell, were presently trapped in their berths by the mangled boom of a fallen cargo crane.
“… Well… ‘Least his huge materia’s still in one piece,” the Turk replied, a soft shimmer of light at the far end of the marina catching his eye. Deep red in color, it hadn’t taken him long to spot its source: the massive crystal that was resting somewhat askew on a large wooden pallet.
“Hmph… Thank Odin for that, or you wouldn’t be the only one getting eviscerated later,” she quipped, as she pulled out her phone and started documenting the damage to the submarines and their bays.
“Heh… Yeah, well, ‘least you’d’ve been able to take some solace in the fact that none of this is your fault. Me? I can’t pin the blame on anyone but myself.”
“So are you really just going to torture me with teasers all afternoon, or are you actually going to tell me what the hell you did to get yourself yanked out of the field?” Viridia asked, stepping over the remains of a metal ladder that had fallen from one of the upper catwalks. “Because just so you know, I’ve got a pretty good imagination, and I’m sure I can come up with all sorts of possible reasons before dinner tonight…”
Reno sighed. He’d been trying not to dwell on it, but unfortunately, that just wasn’t happening.
“Ward kinda put me on some shit after that whole panic attack thing. Ya know… like antidepressant bullshit. And I kinda quit takin’ it… and it kinda happened again.”
Viridia paused in her bid to reach the opposite side of the dock and rounded on him.
“Why in Odin’s name would you do something that dumb?” she asked in disbelief.
“Tch… Gee, thanks Vir… Don’t take it easy on me or anything…”
The security chief meandered back over towards him, pausing beside him. Without warning, her hand shot out, and smacked him hard in the back of the head.
“Ow!”
“Idiot. You know, if you were one of my subordinates, you’d be on latrine duty for the next month, for pulling a stunt like that.”
“If I were one of your subordinates, you wouldn’t be allowed to hit me like that,” he replied, with a glare, rubbing the back of his skull. “Cut me some slack, will ya? I already know it was stupid.”
Viridia made a faint sound of irritation and shook her head. “Let me guess. You didn’t want to tell Elena, did you? That’s why you quit taking it.”
Reno blinked in surprise. He was pretty sure he hadn’t mentioned anything about her to Vir since his return… How she’d drawn that conclusion was something of a mystery. It was a little late to try denying it, though.
“… Mighta had somethin’ to do with it.”
“For Shiva’s sake, you’reas bad as Tseng,” she muttered, and he instinctively ducked, half-expecting her to take another swing at him. “He pulled that same shit with me once, and you’d better believe me when I say he knows not to ever do it again.” She rested her hands on her hips, staring him down. “And if you really love her as much as you say you do, you won’t either. That’s not how relationships work.”
It took him several seconds to recover from his shock. He honestly couldn’t remember Vir ever taking quite that tone with him before. Oh, sure… she’d yelled at him plenty of times, and she’d marched his ass to the base’s holding cells more often than he could even remember. But she seemed to be taking this almost personally.
“What the fuck are you so pissed at me for?” he asked, bewildered. She continued to glare at him for a moment, and then finally sighed.
“Because I know how much it can hurt when someone you love isn’t being honest with you. Especially when you know that they’re in pain themselves.” She shook her head and took a step towards him, reaching out and absently straightening the collar of his shirt. “She’s not going to think any less of you for needing help. I certainly didn’t think any less of Tseng…” Viridia grinned widely. “Though I did come dangerously close to punching the bastard in the face for lying to me about it.”
“… Yeah. Think I probably woulda ended up in the doghouse for awhile, too, if ‘Lena hadn’t been so glad I wasn’t dyin’ last night.” He raised his eyes to look at her. “Hey… Vir? Can I ask you somethin’?”
“Sure.”
“Back when Mayu died… was Tseng really that bad? I mean… I was scared shitless when I first saw him afterwards. And I was worried about the guy for awhile, after that, ‘specially when he went home to Wutai for what was s’posed to be a couple of days and ended up disappearin’ on me for over a week… but after awhile he just kinda seemed to snap out of it.”
“He never told you where he went?” Viridia asked, and Reno shook his head. “He was here with me in Junon. And yeah… it was pretty bad. He must have drafted his resignation letter a dozen times the day he arrived. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so angry and so devastated. It took a few days before he calmed down enough to actually talk about what happened. For awhile there, he was dead set on not going back.”
Reno involuntarily shuddered. He hadn’t realized he’d been that close to losing his mentor. Tseng had never let on, at least not to him, that he’d legitimately considered leaving the Turks. The thought was more than slightly sobering. Without Tseng, who knows where he’d have ended up? In all likelihood, Reno would have been dead by now. The Wutaiian had always taken great pains to reign in some of his riskier behavior when he’d been younger… allowing him freedom to make mistakes – and he’d made plenty – but always keeping a tight grip on the leash, just in case. At first, he’d somewhat resented being told what to do by his demanding guardian. Eventually, though, he’d grown used to it… even grateful for it on occasion. Before Tseng, no adult had ever given enough of a shit about him to bother telling him that he couldn’t do something.
“Sounds like I owe ya for talkin’ him out of it.”
Viridia smirked slightly. “As much as I’d like to take credit, it wasn’t anything I did that changed his mind. Tseng just couldn’t bear to leave you behind.”
Reno blinked. “… Me?”
The security chief rolled her eyes. “Yes, you,” she replied, laughing quietly, “I swear if he were any more attached to you, I’d be obligated to be jealous.” She shook her head, still chuckling. “So… getting back to the previous topic… what are you going to do the next time you see Elena?”
“What d’ya mean?” he asked, caught a bit off-guard by the question.
“For being a self-centered, lying sack of chocobo dung and probably scaring her half to death with all that panic attack shit. I suggest flowers. And jewelry. And swearing up and down that you’ll be a good little Turk and take your medicine from now on.”
Reno eyed her strangely, one eyebrow rising in curiosity.
“Now what?” Viridia asked, arms folded over her chest.
“Nothin’… I’m just startin’ to wonder if you’re somehow channelin’ an old friend of mine right now. ‘Cause that sounds an awful lot like somethin’ she’d say. If she was still speakin’ to me, that is…”
He hadn’t thought much about Lira lately… and felt a little guilty that she’d so easily slipped his mind… but it was true. In fact, most of their conversation had been one he could easily imagine having with her. Lira had a way of making him feel better about almost any given situation… and he missed that. He would always miss it… but he’d more or less given up any hope of having her in his life again. It had been weeks. She’d have called him by now… texted… emailed… something… if there was still a chance.
The woman snorted softly, pulling him from the morose thoughts before they could really take hold. “Why am I not surprised that there are other women out there who’d call you a lying sack of chocobo dung?”
The redhead smiled faintly. “Hey… I was never that bad.”
“Of course you weren’t…” Viridia deadpanned. “Come on, Mr. Innocent… We still need to take a look at the reactor before we can get out of here.”
“You’re not sending him home… are you?” Tseng asked, as Dr. Ward fussed over him, checking the heavy bandages around his abdomen.
“And just what makes yeh think yer entitled ta that information? Yer on leave until I say otherwise… which means yer not in command right now,” she replied. She gently probed a large bruised area on his side. It had been healing well up until the latest mako therapy treatment… but something seemed to have reinjured the skin. She frowned thoughtfully and tugged the dressings back into place. “No. I’m not sending him home,” she said, “Particularly not without someone ta keep an eye on him. Yeh on the other hand… If I thought it were safe ta move yeh that far, I’d have yeh back in Midgar so fast yer head would spin. I’m afraid we’re going ta have ta stop the mako treatments for a bit. Yeh’ve got poisoning from it, and I’d feel much better if yeh were in Midgar General instead of this ridiculous excuse for a hospital.”
Tseng chuckled softly. “You’ve let yourself become spoiled by luxury, Justinia. Junon has perfectly suitable medical facilities.”
“Hmph…”
“Is it anything to be concerned about?” he asked. The doctor shook her head.
“No… Not really. I’ve been watching yeh closely for any signs of it, so it’s very low-grade. But we can’t continue ta treat yeh with mako until it’s cleared yer system.”
The Turk leader sighed and let his head lean back against the pillow.
“I really am going to be stuck in this bed for months, aren’t I?” He mentally chastised himself for letting some small amount of the dismay he felt slip into his voice. Ward would almost certainly pick up on it.
“Ah… Yeh’ve finally started ta take me seriously, have yeh?” Ward quipped as she pulled the covers back over him.
“I suppose I’ve been hoping that there was a chance of you uncharacteristically exaggerating the extent of my injuries.”
The doctor barked a sharp laugh. “Yeh’d think yeh’d know me better than that by now.” She gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I told yeh… Yer going ta take quite some time ta heal… and I meant it. But I will put yeh back together in the end. Just like I always do.”
“Please do me a favor… Put Reno back together first.”
Ward scoffed quietly. “I don’t see why the two should be mutually exclusive. Now… I’m going ta go and see ta getting yeh a dose of antidote for that mako poisoning before it starts ta spread. And then I’m going make sure that little troublemaker of yers takes the medication I prescribed for him even if I have ta personally shove it down his throat every night.”
Tseng quickly smothered a laugh. “Be gentle with him. He’s already expecting you to bite his head off, I think.”
“Now why would I go and do a fool thing like that? I’d just have ta reattach it when I was done, now, wouldn’t I?”
It was growing dark by the time Reno and Viridia made their way topside again. The damage to the reactor had been, insofar as they’d been able to tell, minimal… though the sensors were registering a small mako leak somewhere in the upper level machinery. They hadn’t stuck around long enough to find it. Neither of them were equipped for dealing with something like that… and it wasn’t their problem anyway. That was a mess for the repair crews to sort out.
As they stepped out onto Junon’s main thoroughfare, his PHS chimed, and he hurried to check it, hoping that it was a message from Elena. No such luck however, and he couldn’t quite repress the groan that escaped his lips moments later.
“The doctor finally get around to summoning you?” she teased him, and he shot her a sour look.
“Naturally…” he sighed.
“Well… if you live through it, I’ll see you around seven.”
“Not helpin’, Vir,” he replied, but smiled slightly, leaving the woman behind with a wave as he headed for the medical bay.
Things had quieted considerably since he’d been gone… though the place seemed to have noticeably fewer open beds than before, and the nursing staff all but ignored him as he slipped by them, focused as they were on whatever task they were attending to. Reno set off in search of Ward, wondering if she would be in the exam room she’d commandeered shortly after her arrival as a makeshift office, or still looking after the surplus of patients. He opted to try the office first.
The redhead took a deep breath and silently pushed door open, peering inside… and finding the room empty.
“There yeh are,” a voice behind him stated loudly, and Reno nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden and unexpected declaration. He spun around to face her, his left hand landing firmly on the mag rod clipped to his belt out of sheer reflex.
“Fuck, Doc… You tryin’ to give me a heart attack?”
The old woman cast him a disapproving glare.
“Yeah, yeah… I know. Language,” he muttered.
“Hmph. Well? Inside with yeh, and up on the table. Let’s have a look at yeh, then.”
“… Seriously, Doc? Can’t ya just start yellin’ now so we can get this over with?”
“I’m not going ta tell yeh twice. And I’ll remind yeh, I’m not over pleased with yeh at the moment.”
Reno cringed and did as he was told. Apparently, the last few hours hadn’t done much to improve the good doctor’s mood. She was still mad. That thought in mind, he shrugged out of his jacket and then his shirt before she even had the chance to ask, and endured her relatively brief exam in silence.
“How have yeh been sleeping?” she said, apparently satisfied with her poking and prodding.
“Fine up ’til last night. Don’t even know what brought it on. I was dead asleep when it started.”
Ward folded her arms across her chest. “That doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. I told yeh to take those pills daily for a reason. Yeh had the medication built up to a nice, therapeutic level in yer system and then yeh went and cut yerself off. Soon as those levels dropped too low, something was bound ta happen. Yer lucky yeh’ve only been on it a short while, or it probably would’ve been a lot worse for yeh.”
She opened a drawer in her desk and removed a small plastic bottle, twisting off the cap and shaking one of the tablets into her palm. The doctor placed it in Reno’s hand and offered him a bottle of water.
“Yeh take that right now. When yer ready ta come off of it, we’ll take yeh off gradually.”
Reno silently complied, tossing it back and following it with several gulps of water. He wordlessly licked an errant drop from his lips and stared down at the bottle as he twisted the cap back on.
“So… You sendin’ me back to Midgar?” he asked, without looking up.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not lettin’ yeh out of my sight, yeh little troublemaker,” the woman scoffed. “Yer staying here in Junon, and yer going ta do everything I say. Or else. We’ll see where yeh stand when yer two cohorts get back from wherever they’re off ta now.”
The redhead raised his eyes to look at her. “… You’re not gonna yell at me?” he asked, somewhat surprised that the visit seemed to have gone as calmly as it had. He could hardly believe his luck.
“After the day I’ve had, I just don’t have the energy. But I’m sure yeh’ll give me plenty of chances ta make it up ta yeh.”
“And you’re… really not pullin’ me?”
Ward shook her head. “No. I’m not. Yeh were doing just fine until yeh decided ta ignore me. As long as yeh’ve learned yer lesson on that I’m willing ta give yeh another chance.”
Reno sagged in relief, eyes closing briefly as he felt himself really relax for the first time all day.
“Though if it were up ta me, the whole lot of yeh’d be taking a nice long vacation,” she added. “In fact, if we manage ta live through being pummeled by that Shiva-forsaken meteor, I think I’ll make that an official recommendation.”
“That is one medical order I’ll be happy to follow to the letter,” the redhead replied, as he slid off the table and started pulling his shirt back on. “We actually survive this, I’m takin’ ‘Lena and disappearin’ for at least a couple weeks.”
Ward snorted softly in disbelief. “Please. Yeh haven’t accumulated two solid weeks of vacation time at once since yeh were a rookie… and even then it was only because yeh hadn’t been on the job long enough ta use it all yet.”
“Heh… shows what you know, Doc. I’ve been savin’ it up so I can take ‘Lena somewhere special. And that’s exactly what I’m gonna do, just as soon as we kick Sephiroth’s ass, save the fuckin’ planet, and get shit back in line.”
“Yeh watch that mouth of yers. I may be sparing yeh the sharp side of my tongue today, but yer still on thin ice. And don’t yeh even bother asking for yer treat. Yeh’ve lost that privilege until I say otherwise,” the doctor said, sternly. “Now off with yeh. Go and eat something if yeh haven’t already. And I expect ta see yeh here, same time tomorrow.”
“What for?”
“So I can watch yeh take yer medication.”
“… How long you gonna punish me for not obeyin’ medical orders?” he asked with a resigned sigh. Ward smirked.
“Until I feel I’ve driven the point firmly inta that thick skull of yers.”
Rain was pelting the windows when Elena groaned and rolled over in bed. She couldn’t believe it still hadn’t stopped. As she sat up, a soft knock at the door reminded her that she wasn’t alone in the house.
“Come in,” she called out, yawning widely. The door creaked softly as it swung inwards, revealing Rude.
“You planning on getting up before noon?” he asked. Elena blinked as she realized that he was fully dressed, and glanced over at the clock. Her jaw dropped slightly when she saw the time. It was nearly ten. She hurried to get out of bed, stumbling slightly over tangled sheets in her haste, and knuckling her eyes in an attempt to wake herself up a bit. Rude snickered loudly. “You know… I really am starting to think Reno’s rubbing off on you a little too much. You even wake up like him now.”
She glared at him. “It’s this damn rain,” she muttered, “I always end up oversleeping on rainy mornings.”
“Well, looks like the worst of it’s finally cleared off. We’re good to leave for Mt. Corel any time… so get dressed and come downstairs. I saved you some breakfast.”
Elena nodded and the other Turk withdrew, his footsteps fading on the staircase as she dug through her travel bag, pulling out a fresh uniform. As she dressed, she glanced at her PHS, charging on the table by the bed. The message light was blinking. She picked it up, thumbing open her text messages and grinned before switching to the phone and dialing the number.
“Hey,” a familiar and welcome voice answered almost immediately.
“Hey, yourself,” she replied, a smile spreading across her face. “So what’s this good news?”
“Heh… Ward didn’t brutally murder me, for one thing,” Reno replied. “And she didn’t sideline me, either.”
Elena’s smile broadened. “Are you on your way back?”
“No… I’ve been sent to my room and told to think about what I’ve done for awhile, first. But I’m cleared soon as you ‘n Rude get back to Junon. Where are you?”
“Still in Rocket Town. The storm kept us grounded all day yesterday, but it’s just about past us now. We’re leaving for the Mt. Corel reactor in a little while.”
“Alright… let me know when you’ve got that materia secured and are on your way back to Rocket Town with it. Oh… and tell Rude the Ragged Chocobo survived Weapon’s latest attack with only minor damage.”
“That grungy little bar behind the weapons shop?”
Reno chuckled quietly on the other end of the line. “Yeah, that’s the one. He’ll be glad to hear it, trust me. Won’t have to worry about it anymore, either. They finally managed to take that fucker down. Blasted its head clean off with the main canon.”
“Good,” Elena replied, “That means I don’t have to worry about Weapon destroying you,either.”
She wedged the phone against her shoulder and slipped into a pair of pants. As good as it was to hear Reno’s voice, multi-tasking was a must. Rude had already been waiting on her for far too long. She very nearly dropped the device as she awkwardly fumbled the button at the waist.
“The hell are you doin’?” the redhead asked, she presumed, in response to the odd sounds he must have been hearing as a result.
“Getting dressed,” she replied, and then quickly added, “And no… I’m not naked.”
“Topless, at least?”
“No.”
“Tch… Ruin a guy’s fantasy, why don’t ya.”
“Pervert,” she giggled. By now, she was grinning so widely her face was actually starting to hurt. “I’ve got to go. Rude sounded anxious to get to work. We’ll see you in a couple of days, okay?”
“‘Kay… Watch yourselves out there. I love you, ‘Lena.”
“I love you, too,” she said, “Stay out of trouble.”
“No promises,” the redhead said in a teasing voice, and before she could retort, he’d ended the call. Elena shook her head and shoved the phone into her pocket. She was glad to hear him really sounding like his old self again.
She shrugged out of her pajama top and grabbed a bra. She paused, though, halfway into tackling the always-uncooperative little hooks, and glanced over at the closed door. Rude could wait another minute or two.
Elena tossed the undergarment aside for the moment and fished the phone out of her pocket again, opening up the camera app and snapping a photo of herself from the waist up. She attached it to a text before she could talk herself out of what she was doing.
‘If anyone else EVER sees this, I will kill you. Behave,’ she keyed in as the accompanying message.
She hurried to finish dressing, and was on her way downstairs when her PHS chimed at her. She opened the new message and grinned as she read it.
‘I’ll be good.’
“What’s up?” Rude’s voice suddenly queried, and Elena hurriedly closed out of the text, blushing faintly.
“N-nothing. I was just talking to Reno,” she quickly replied.
“Judging by the color of you face, I probably don’t want to know what you were talking about,” he teased. “What’s the word? Is he allowed back on duty?”
Elena tucked the phone back into her pocket and shook her head. “Not for this mission. But he’ll be cleared as soon as we get back. So let’s hurry up and get that materia.”
The helicopter circled once more, high over the mountain range, before it began to drop in altitude, and Rude was glad he’d opted to take the pilot’s seat himself. Elena wasn’t a bad pilot… just an inexperienced one, and the crosswinds high in the mountains were particularly treacherous today. Even he was having a hard time holding a smooth descent.
Reno hadn’t been the only phone call earlier that morning. As Rude and Elena were heading out, Rufus had informed them that Avalanche had stolen the Highwind, and Reeve had reported that the group was aware of Shinra’s plans for the huge materia. It seemed they intended to try and stop them by procuring it for themselves. A small number of troops stationed at the port in Costa del Sol had been dispatched to block their progress should they arrive before the Turks did, and to have the materia itself ready for transport.
All in all, Rude could find little to complain about. Instead of retrieving their target from deep inside the reactor, all they had to do was pick it up out front. That made their job considerably easier. In fact, if they could make good time getting it back to Rocket Town, they could probably be airborne again in time to make it to Fort Condor by nightfall. Slipping into the occupied garrison under cover of darkness was preferable anyway. If they were lucky, by this time tomorrow, they might even be back in Junon.
And frankly, Rude was just as anxious as Elena was to be reunited with their missing teammate.
He’d hated having to turn him over to Ward. But, as he kept reminding himself, it was for Reno’s own good. Rude was irritated with the redhead… and with himself for not looking after him better. He knew perfectly well what Reno could be like, and his friend had made it fairly clear that he disliked the idea of being medicated for his anxiety. Rude couldn’t help but think that, if he’d just been paying a little more attention, this could have been avoided.
“Rude… What’s that?” the woman beside him suddenly asked, and he quickly redirected his gaze from his intended landing zone to the reactor entrance some distance off. A plume of what appeared to be smoke was billowing from inside. He frowned and scanned the area. Where were the soldiers that had been sent to secure the reactor ahead of them?
His question was answered mere moments later as a train engine emerged from the reactor entrance, trailed by a long line of cars.
“W-what are they doing?” Elena stammered as it shot along the tracks. Both of them noted the flatbed near the center, and it’s shimmering blue cargo. The huge materia.
“… Running,” Rude replied when a second engine began to follow on a parallel set of tracks. Avalanche. It had to be them. The question was, were they in the first train, absconding with the materia already… or were they in the second, chasing it down?
It was a question that was answered shortly thereafter as the second engine began to catch up to the back end of the other train and three figures leapt across the gap between them. Recognizing one of them as Vincent Valentine wasn’t difficult. The cat-like creature who’d identified itself as “Nanaki” during its debriefing in Junon soon followed, along with young Wutaiian girl whose name presently escaped Rude’s memory. The pair of Turks watched as they began to make their way along the tops of the train cars.
“They’re going to try and stop it,” Rude noted. Elena was already unfastening her harness. “… Where do you think you’re going?”
“We’ll take the materia while they’re busy with the soldiers on the train. You bring us in low… I’ll hop down and hook the winch up to the materia, and then we lift it out of there before they even realize we’re here.”
The bald Turk snorted softly.
“You’re as crazy as Reno.” But that didn’t stop him from lining himself up with the speeding train and dropping in low behind it. “Wait ’til I’m over that empty flatbed three cars back before you even think about jumping.”
Elena nodded and and set her headset aside. She moved toward the back and began unspooling the winch cable, readying herself for the drop. Rude eased the throttle up, increasing the aircraft’s speed just enough to begin to overtake the train. Ahead of him, he could see the three Avalanche members fighting their way past the Shinra guards… far too busy to notice the approach of the Turks. At last, he was in position, and he slowed them slightly, matching the speed of the train as best he could. The wind wasn’t quite as wicked back here, in the shadow of the mountain, but he knew there was a steep rise in the tracks and a bridge that spanned a wide valley up ahead. She needed to jump before they reached it, as it wasn’t very likely he’d be able to hold the helicopter steady enough to be safe for her through that section if the crosswinds there were as bad as the ones higher up.
“Go!” he shouted over the sound of the engines. Elena wrenched open the sliding door in the side of the craft and hesitated, but moments later she disappeared from sight. Rude breathed a sigh of relief as he shifted his gaze forward again and watched her land safely on the flatbed. That was the hard part. All she had to do now was make her way a few cars forward, and clip the cable to the pallet containing the materia.
As the tracks began to trend upwards along the mountainside, she hurried over the roof of the car ahead of her and then scrambled down onto another flatbed, racing across it towards the materia. Rude was forced to back off slightly as the incline increase sharply. Nearly at the top, Elena was just a few feet away from her goal, when Rude saw her suddenly hit the deck.
It took him a moment to realize why. At first, he thought she’d been spotted by the trio of terrorists who’d preceded her onto the train… but it quickly became apparent that they themselves were presently occupied with trying to take control of the engine. The second train, however, was now running even with the materia car on the first… and to Rude’s horror, it, too, was still occupied.
Barret Wallace was shooting from the engine’s cab, the bullets ricocheting off the the other train, sending up tiny showers of sparks as they struck metal. And Elena was a sitting duck. The car she was on was empty, and offered her no cover at all… and there was no way for her to safely move forward to take shelter behind the materia. To Rude’s surprise, however, Wallace didn’t seem to be aiming at her.
With a sudden, and somewhat sickening moment of insight, he realized he was shooting at the coupling between the two cars. Almost as soon as it dawned on him, the coupling gave way and the rear half of the other train detached itself, separating Elena from the materia she’d been so close to reclaiming. The cars began to slow near the top of the hill… and than started to roll backwards down the incline. Elena slid downwards as well, nearly tumbling towards the back of the flatbed before she finally caught herself.
Elena let out a scream as the flatbed reversed course down the hill and began to pick up speed, the sudden change in angle sending her first to her knees and then scurrying to find purchase before she found herself falling between the flatbed and the car behind it. She only just managed to wedge her fingers into a metal tiedown loop along the side and pull herself into a safer position.
She’d been so close. If she’d just gotten across that gap…
She looked upward and watched as Rude banked left and came back around from behind the engineless train, ignoring their quarry as it disappeared around a bend. The car rocked violently as it took a sharp turn a little too fast for her taste, and she held on tight.
What in Odin’s name had made her think this was a good idea? This was a terrible idea. In fact she might have even gone as far as to say that this was the worst idea she’d ever had.
She yelped again when the runaway train took another painfully sharp turn, and she felt the wheels on one side lift off the tracks. How many more turns like that were there, she wondered. And how many more would she be lucky enough to take without derailing? And what would happen if the train didn’t derail? Did it have enough momentum to keep going all the way back to the reactor? Would it slow down by then, or would it slam mercilessly into the dangerous facility?
Just as she was beginning to seriously consider jumping before that could happen – to hell with the injuries she’d likely incur – the sound of metal scraping along wood caught her attention. Elena turned her head just in time to see the winch’s hook sliding past her, and dove for it, relinquishing her grip on her makeshift lifeline.
“Pull me up!” she shouted, even though she knew perfectly well that Rude couldn’t hear her. Thankfully, though, he seemed to get the message that she was more than ready to go, because a few seconds later, she felt the winch begin to take up the slack in the line.
Elena’s fingers gripped the hook so hard her knuckles were turning white by the time she found herself dangling in mid-air, watching the flatbed slip out from under her. It continued to careen down the slope for a short distance until the rear car suddenly came off the tracks and the whole thing buckled. The crash was deafening, even over the sound of the downwash from the helicopter’s blades, and she watched in morbid fascination as it twisted and rolled, and finally came to a rest, teetering on the edge of the cliff. And then it went over, practically vanishing right before her eyes, falling into one of the mountain’s deep ravines.
She slowly let out the breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding, and tried not to think about just how close that had actually been. Her toes touched the ground a moment later, but she clung to the cabling for support until she’d sunk to her knees in the middle of the tracks. Rude began to set down a short distance away, and Elena somewhat shakily got to her feet and started walking towards the helicopter.
She’d only made it about three quarters of the way there before Rude had killed the engines and climbed out of the aircraft, closing the remaining distance between them.
“You alright?” he asked, concerned, and Elena managed a weak nod.
“If I ever tell you I’m going to jump out of a helicopter and onto a moving train again… handcuff me to my seat until I come to my senses.”
~fin~
Comments