Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 54: Exhaustion

Reno was eternally grateful when Rude and Shay showed up bright and early Monday morning… in a helicopter instead of a truck. He had not been looking forward to another trip through the mountains, lashed in next to a load of cargo. He grinned as he realized that it was Rude at the controls and not the senior Turk. The helicopter set down with a soft bump on one of the helipads and the pair of Turks disembarked.

“Hey,” the redhead said, grinning as Rude approached. “Ya made it in one piece!”

His fellow rookie snorted a quiet laugh.

“Hope so. I’m taking the test for my certification next week.”

“Tch… Rub it in why don’t ya. I can’t even try ’til after my birthday.”

Rude nudged him with an elbow. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. You’re still working on your landings. You have fun training with Viridia?”

Reno shrugged and feigned indifference. “Found out one thing for sure…” he replied, not wanting to go into details.

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“That I am definitely not cut out for military life,” he joked, grinning. “The food sucks. And comin’ from me, that’s sayin’ somethin’.”

Rude laughed, but before they could continue the conversation, Kai was making her way over towards them.

“Time to go, baby Turkling,” she called out, and Reno rolled his eyes. He really was sick to death of that stupid nickname. If she was gonna do it, couldn’t she just call him a ‘Turkling’ like the other rookies? Did it really have to be ‘baby Turkling’?

Rude was snickering unabashedly at his scowling friend.

“Oh, shut the hell up, Rude,” Reno muttered, which did nothing to stem his friend’s laughter. “See ya in a week,” he finally sighed, and fell into step behind Kai. Rude waved and then headed off to join Shay and Remy who were already on their way back to the administration building. The redhead slipped into the co-pilot’s chair and reached for his harness… only to be stopped by Kai.

“Nuh uh… move over.”

“… Huh?” he asked, bewildered.

“You’re driving,” she smirked. “Tseng’s orders. He says it’s about time you got out of the copilot’s seat and started learning how to do this for real. Try not to kill us, huh? I have a date tonight.”

The rookie grinned and slid over, taking over the pilot’s controls, as Kai appropriated his former seat and strapped herself in. Reno went through the startup sequence easily from memory, setting the rotors turning.

“Seriously. I don’t want to die today,” Kai intoned over the headsets. Reno smirked.

“… ‘kay… How just a near-death experience, then?” he snickered, and launched them skyward.

---

They’d missed the morning briefing by about five minutes. The others were still trickling out of the conference room.

“Reno! Hi!” a voice called as he and Kai rounded the corner. He spotted Cissnei heading towards him. Rodney was behind her, apparently engrossed in conversation with Veld. The other rookie didn’t bother looking up. Cissnei, however, looked more than happy to see him.

“How was your flight?” she asked.

“His landings need work,” Kai replied for him. “A lot of work.”

“Hey, you’re still alive, aren’t you?” he taunted her.

“How, I have no idea…” she said with a dramatic eye roll. “Just you wait. Tomorrow’s gauntlet day. I’ll get you back…”

Cissnei giggled as the senior Turk took her leave, catching sight of Luca and hurrying off to talk to him.

“Um… If you want I could help you with that,” the other rookie offered, “Your landings, I mean. I have some time in the simulator booked later this week. Rodney and I are getting ready for the certification exam… even though we can’t take it quite yet.”

Reno blinked in surprise. “W-wait… You guys are already… ready? For the exam?”

“Oh, sure… They’ve started covering that in recruit training now. I’ve been flying the sims for six months. I don’t have any real flight time yet, though, so Luca is going to start working with Rodney and I on that next week,” she replied. “Honestly… Rodney could probably take it now and pass. So could I, I think. But you have to have a minimum of twenty hours of actual flight time logged before you can certify. And I’m not eighteen yet, either, so…”

Reno internally grimaced. He wasn’t even close to being ready for that exam. Even though he’d racked up quite a bit of time at the controls outside of the simulator, Kai was right about his landings. His takeoffs weren’t exactly picture perfect, either, if he was being honest. Maybe he could talk Tseng into taking the helicopter up for a little extra practice this week, instead of just his normal lessons. This was yet another area where he was behind the two new rookies. This one, though, he was confident he could fix fairly easily.

But first… he had to get through the morning’s session of materia training. Tseng and Rodney were already heading towards them. His mentor smiled faintly as they stopped in front of him.

“How was your week in Junon?” he asked.

“Uh… good,” the redhead offered, somewhat hesitantly. A part of him wanted to just tell Tseng what Vir had said, his resolve unexpectedly wavering. He stopped himself, however. “We kinda figured out that I do a little better with lightning materia.”

‘A little better’ was somewhat grossly overstating things. He’d spent the remainder of his time in Junon practicing on his own, without Viridia’s help, but hadn’t accomplished much. Hell, Sunday afternoon he’d worked so hard that he’d been out cold before dinner and hadn’t woken until it was nearly time to leave this morning. All he had to show for it was a minor electrical burn along the inside of his left forearm.

“Good. The others are beginning to move on to other types as well. Shall we get started?”

Reno silently groaned, but nodded. This was going to suck…

---

“You have an interesting definition of ‘better’,” Rodney needled him as the trio of rookies headed for the cafeteria following their practice session. Tseng hadn’t said as much… but Reno very strongly suspected that he shared Rodney’s sentiment.

“Don’t worry, Reno. You’ll get it,” Cissnei said, encouragingly.

“… Can you both just let me live in denial for awhile and pretend this morning didn’t happen?” the redhead sighed.

At least he hadn’t electrocuted himself this time. Not that that was any great cause for celebration. His performance had still been abysmal. He’d managed to cast lightning spells a grand total of… twice. And missed the target both times… once coming dangerously close to hitting Cissnei by accident.

“Guess even the Materia Corps can’t help some people…” Rodney commented.

Cissnei abruptly halted dead in her tracks and turned on her fellow rookie.

“Rodney, stop being such a jerk. Can’t you see how much this is bothering him?” The other rookie only shrugged, and continued on his way. Cissnei shook her head. “You know… sometimes, Rodney’s a really nice guy. And other times I’d really like to punch him in the face…” she said, once he was out of earshot. “Just ignore him, Reno.”

The redhead managed a smile.

“Thanks…” he said, tiredly.

“Wow… You look completely wiped.”

“I’m okay… I just need somethin’ to eat’s all,” Reno replied. Though in truth, what he felt like he really needed was a nap. Maybe practicing all weekend hadn’t been such a great idea. Of course, there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about that now. He’d just have to tough it out for the rest of the day, and get a decent night’s sleep.

---

Tuesday arrived and with it, a growing sense of despair for Reno. He felt like crap. And he’d overslept and had to skip breakfast or risk making both Tseng and himself late to work. Through the latter half of the morning briefing, he did his best to ignore the grumbling of his stomach all but begging for food, and as he followed Tseng and the other two rookies to their usual practice area, he was beginning to find that quick movements made him dizzy.

There was no way in hell he was going to be able to keep this up. There was just no way. His wavering resolve of yesterday was quickly turning to full-blown surrender. And yet… he was too stubborn to just give in.

One more day, he decided. He’d give it one more day, and if he still felt like this tomorrow, he’d explain shit to Tseng and request to drop materia training. He wasn’t any good to anyone like this. Hell, he could barely keep his eyes open by the time he’d gotten off work yesterday. And Tseng had definitely noticed… but the rookie had waved off his concerns and convinced him that he was alright.

Now though… even as stubborn as he was, the redhead had to admit that he was far from ‘alright’. His hands were actually shaking slightly. He hadn’t seen that happen since he’d nearly starved during a bad illness one winter in the slums. He took a deep breath, forcing himself still. He just had to get through the next couple of hours. Then he could go eat, and maybe lie down for a little while.

He wished Rude were here. He’d have covered for him while he slept this off. Cissnei might be willing… but he didn’t know her well enough to be sure. She seemed kind of by-the-book, to be honest. She might just report him to Medical, and that was the last thing he needed. Ward would positively murder him, he just knew it.

“Reno?”

His attention was suddenly snapped back to the task at hand, as he realized that Tseng had been talking to him… and he had absolutely no clue what his mentor had been saying. He shook his head to clear it, and noticed that the other two rookies were looking at him expectantly.

“You’re up…” Tseng prodded again, and looked at him quizzically.

Fuck. Practice. He was expected to do more than just stand there, staring at the targets. Gritting his teeth, he checked the materia in his wristlet and picked one of the small silhouettes, focusing on the little orb and on what he wanted it to hit, praying that this actually worked for once.

Everything immediately went black.

---

He’d only looked away for a moment, his eyes on the target waiting to see the results of the spell. Something hit the floor behind him with a loud thud and Tseng felt his blood run cold. Somehow, he knew what it was before he even turned.

“Reno?!”

His shout was echoed by at least one of the other rookies. The Turk lieutenant rushed over to the form that lay crumpled on the ground, motionless.

“Reno…” he tried again, shaking him gently. He was breathing… thank Leviathan… but otherwise completely unresponsive. Tseng silently cursed himself. He’d known something wasn’t right. He’d seen it last night, and it had been even more apparent this morning, and he’d stupidly let himself be convinced that his ward was just pushing himself a little too hard. That the effort would ultimately pay off in the end and be good for him.

“Reno?” Cissnei prodded, joining him on the floor next to the redhead. She looked up at the Turk lieutenant, worriedly. “Is he alright?”

“I don’t know,” he replied, lifting the young man off the the ground. “You and Rodney return to headquarters. Tell Veld what’s going on and that I’ll be downstairs in Medical.”

He didn’t await a confirmation of his order. Tseng simply turned and strode out of the training hall, never breaking stride as he turned down the hallway and stepped aboard the nearest elevator. His calm, deliberate exterior projected nothing of the the rapidly rising panic that was threatening to overtake him. He wasn’t about to give into that panic, however. He was needed.

The elevator stopped on the eleventh floor and the Wutaiian Turk swore under his breath as two people moved to step into the car. One look from the Turk lieutenant, and they scurried back, letting the doors slide shut again. Finally, they arrived on the ninth floor, and Tseng hurried towards the large set of doors that led to the medical suite.

“Justinia?!” he called out as he entered, ignoring the young woman who moved to greet him and setting his burden down on the closest examination table. “Justinia… I need you, right now!”

“Oh, for Shiva’s sake…” came the reply from one of the small offices near the back of the suite, and a moment later, Dr. Ward was briskly walking towards him. “Don’t yeh take that tone with me, Tseng. Now… what is it yeh’ve done ta yerself that demands my immediate attention instead of the lovely Nurse Robinson’s here?”

“Not me!” Tseng replied, and gestured to the unconscious rookie.

Dr. Ward’s demeanor shifted immediately and she shooed him out of her way, moving swiftly towards the redhead.

“What happened ta him?” she asked, already carefully looking her patient over.

“He collapsed during materia training,” Tseng replied, attempting to move closer, only to be shooed off a second time, this time with far more force. “He was overly tired this morning. I… I should have had him sit out today’s training.”

“Hmm…” was all the doctor said in reply. “Reno? Can yeh hear me?” She tapped her palm against his cheek, in an attempt to rouse him. “This is a bit more than ‘overly tired’. Marnie… get a blood glucose fer me, would yeh?”

“Yes, Doctor,” the nurse replied, and dashed off to collect something from the supply closet. Ward, meanwhile, was carefully lifting Reno’s eyelids, and flicking a small penlight back and forth across his pupils.

“How long was he at it?” she asked.

“We hadn’t even started,” Tseng said, shaking his head. “It was the first spell he attempted today.”

“And yesterday?”

“About two and a half hours,” he replied.

“And before that? When’s the last time he had a proper break?”

The Turk shook his head somewhat futilely. “He was in Junon until yesterday morning. I did ask one of the Materia Corps’ commanding officers to work with him as a personal favor… but I can assure you, she has trained many young recruits. She knows what she’s doing, and she wouldn’t have pushed him to the point of exhaustion.”

Viridia simply wouldn’t have. She was always so protective of her novices, and never would have let it go this far. And if she’d thought he needed to rest before resuming training, she would have notified him.

Tseng tried again to move closer to the ailing redhead, as the nurse was drawing blood from the teen, and was greeted with an annoyed glare from Dr. Ward.

“Either yeh stay out from under foot… or yeh get out of my medical suite. Yer choice, Tseng. I’m not going ta tell yeh again.”

The Turk begrudgingly backed off and took a seat in one of the chairs in the waiting area. There were times to stand one’s ground with the medical staff and times to simply do as ordered. This was one of the latter. Ward’s attention needed to be on Reno… not on him.

Waiting, however… it was maddening. He never enjoyed sitting around, waiting for a doctor to come and speak to him about one of his subordinates. Up until now, it was something he’d seldom had to do, as Veld tended to handle such matters personally… though it was beginning to dawn on him that, now that he was graduating to the responsibility of overseeing all of the team’s rookies on his own – for the most part – it very well might end up being a far more regular occurrence. If today was any indication… he didn’t think he was going to enjoy it.

It was several minutes before Ward reappeared from behind the curtain… her expression a truly intimidating cross between furious and concerned.

“He’ll be alright. No thanks ta yeh and yer Shiva-be-cursed training,” she said, angrily.

“What happened? What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s physically exhausted is what he is. And I suspect the materia’s depleted his mana reserves as well. The wee thing’s worn himself ta the bone,” Ward replied. “What did he have fer breakfast this morning?”

Tseng cringed. They’d been running late. Reno had assured him that he’d grab something when they got to the office, but they’d been so far behind, he hadn’t had time. Ward didn’t take long to correctly interpret his hesitation.

“Hmph… I thought as much,” she snapped. “And judging by just how low his blood sugar is, I’d be willing ta bet he’s skipped more than just a few meals since yeh started teaching him ta use materia, too. Probably too tired ta eat.”

“… He has been having a… difficult… time with the training, yes. He’s fallen asleep before dinner on more than one occasion.”

“And what did I tell yeh about keeping that boy fed?” Ward demanded. He hadn’t heard that tone in years. In fact, the longer this went on, the more Ward was beginning to sound like his grandmother. Like Justinia, that woman had always had the innate ability to put her grandson in his place with little more than a look and a question. Somehow, he managed to stop his hand from rising to shield his ear from any potential snatching the good doctor may have had in mind.

“… That he burns through calories like a chocobo on speed and should never skip meals,” the Wutaiian Turk replied. It was paraphrasing Reno himself a bit, and he knew it, but it was no less accurate.

“Hmph… close enough, I suppose,” the doctor acknowledged. “That’s not just going ta go away, Tseng. He may eventually grow out of it… or he may not. But either way, fer now, that’s his reality. Yeh can’t wear him down ta the point he can’t take care of himself! If yeh do, this is what is going ta happen. I don’t tell yeh these things just ta hear myself talk!”

Tseng swallowed somewhat nervously. He couldn’t exactly deny that there were times when he didn’t always take the woman’s advice to heart. Before he could say anything, however, she continued.

“Now… he’s barred from materia training until he’s recovered, and he’s not recovered until I bloody well say he’s recovered. Is that clear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tseng replied, thoroughly chastised. Ward was still glowering at him.

“And as fer yeh…” she added, “I hope yeh realize how lucky yeh are this wasn’t more serious. If I were yeh, I’d be seriously reevaluating just how good of a job I was doing with him. Especially now that yeh have two more ta look after.”

That felt almost like a slap in the face… a literal one, not merely figurative. Reno was hurt. And it was because of him. He’d pushed too hard, and then he’d ignored the warning signs that his rookie was struggling. For Leviathan’s sake, he hadn’t simply ignored it… he’d pushed him even harder.

“Is he awake yet?” the Turk lieutenant asked, quietly.

“No. And he won’t be fer awhile yet,” Dr. Ward replied with a snort of contempt. “I’d be surprised if he comes around before tamorrow. I’m going ta start him on a nutrient drip and see if that brings him out of it any faster, but yeh might as well plan on leaving him here fer the rest of the day, at the very least.”

Tseng’s shoulders sagged slightly. He’d thought an hour or two… maybe the rest of the morning. But the entire day? He never would have guessed that he’d so seriously underestimated Reno’s ability to mask how badly this was affecting him. He moved towards the curtain and this time Dr. Ward didn’t try to stop him.

Reno was far too still for his liking. The teenager was always a bundle of energy. Even sitting, doing nothing, he was never so completely inert.

“There’s nothing more yeh can do fer him right now. Yeh go and get back ta work. I’ll look after him fer yeh.”

Tseng nodded somewhat distractedly. “Call me when he wakes, please…”

With that, he made his way out into hallway, and took the elevator back to headquarters. He’d stop and speak to Veld first. The Turk leader would want an update on the rookie’s status… though he wasn’t looking forward to explaining how he’d ended up in such a condition in the first place. Then he’d need to track down the other two rookies, as they were technically still supposed to be working with him at the moment. And when he had a moment or two to himself, he needed to place a call to Viridia and see if she’d noticed anything amiss while Reno had been in Junon. Likely not… but Veld was certain to ask at some point, and he wanted to have an answer to give him. In fact… it might be prudent to phone Viridia first, under the circumstances.

A plan in mind, Tseng stepped out of the elevator on the fifty-eighth floor, PHS already in hand, prepared to head straight to his office for some privacy.

He didn’t make it more than two steps before he was ambushed and surrounded by half the team.

“Sir? Is Reno okay?” Cissnei asked.

“What in the nine hells happened?” Kai cut in, pushing past the young rookie… only to be elbowed out of the way by both Saya and Sato.

“Where is he? Is he hurt? The wee Turklings said he collapsed!”

Tres was standing by as well, and though he didn’t add his voice to the din, he was watching anxiously from the sidelines.

“Calm down, all of you!” Tseng replied, in an authoritative voice. He was in no mood to repeat himself, and with everyone talking over everyone else, explaining would take forever. It took a moment, but eventually the gathering of Turks settled and quieted. “He’s alright. He’s down in Medical… Dr. Ward is taking care of him.”

“What in Shiva’s name happened?” Kai demanded to know, crossing her arms over her chest and staring him down.

“As I said… Reno will be fine. He’s neither injured nor ill… he’s simply exhausted. There are still a number of details I have yet to clarify, and some may need to wait until he wakes up… until then, I prefer not to spread misinformation.”

With that, he pushed past the crowd and continued on to his office. He knew it wasn’t a satisfactory answer… for any of them… but until he knew exactly where he’d gone wrong, he didn’t want to speculate. As he pushed open the door to his office, he was distinctly aware of a presence behind him. Tseng sighed softly as he turned and wasn’t especially surprised to find that Kai had followed him.

“What’s going on, Tseng? He was fine all last week. What the hell happened in the last two days that put him in the hospital?”

“He’s not in the hospital, he’s in the medical suite,” Tseng replied, rounding his desk and sitting down. Kai stormed after him, and kicked the door shut behind her.

“Goddammit, Tseng… What’s going on?”

“Beyond what I’ve already told you, I don’t know yet. I came in here to try and gather more information before I report to Veld. I need to speak with Viridia.”

Kai took a seat in one of the chairs across from him.

“So I’m guessing that means this is related to materia training. He ran himself down, didn’t he?”

“In all likelihood, yes,” Tseng replied. Kai shook her head.

“Man… talk about getting hit hard and fast. He was okay Monday when we flew back to Midgar.”

“… I’m not so sure he was,” he sighed. “Tell me… did he seem unusually tired towards the end of the week? Go to bed far earlier than normal? Or have trouble getting up in the mornings?”

Kai frowned and leaned back in her chair. “Now that you mention it, yeah. He was pretty wiped Sunday night. Seemed okay in the morning, though. Thinking about it in hindsight… that does seem a little odd. I saw Vir on Sunday afternoon down in Lower Junon. I don’t think they were training that day.”

Tseng had a sneaking suspicion that the rookie had decided to hold a practice session or two of his own. Unsupervised. He swallowed a frustrated groan, and reached for his PHS.

“If you’ll excuse me, Kai, I believe I need to give Viridia a call…”

The other Turk nodded and stood up, heading for the door. She paused halfway into the hallway.

“You’ll let us know when Ward decides to release him right?”

“Of course,” Tseng replied. Kai nodded and left, closing the door quietly behind her. Moments later he was dialing and impatiently listening to the line ring. It seemed to take forever for her to pick up.

“Well, this is unusual. You, calling me in the middle of the work day? It’s practically unheard of, in fact,” a familiar voice teased.

“Unfortunately, it’s exactly not a social call,” he replied, “Do you have few minutes?”

“You’re in luck. I was just getting ready to take my break. What’s on your mind?”

“Reno,” Tseng said, absently running his fingers through his hair, belatedly realizing that she was going to be even less pleased to hear about this than Ward was.

“Hmm… I was wondering when you’d get around to asking me about that,” she said, her voice switching to a more serious tone. “I know he was a little disappointed, but I really don’t think there’s anything to be done.”

Tseng blinked, silent for a few seconds as he attempted to figure out what Viridia was talking about.

“Tseng?” she queried, and he could practically hear the annoyed frown he was certain had just crossed her face. “That stubborn little brat hasn’t said a damn thing to you, has he?”

“He did… but judging by your tone, I get the impression that he left out a few important details. I think perhaps a full report is in order. I’d ask him personally, but he’s unconscious at the moment.”

He heard a faint sigh on the other end of the line.

“Reno is probably never going to be able to use materia,” Viridia finally said, “He barely managed to cast a lightning spell, and had nothing left once he finally did. He doesn’t have any kind of an affinity for it. Some people just… don’t. I’m pretty sure Reno’s one of them. He said he was going to tell you when he got back to Midgar. I suppose he just kept right on at it instead, didn’t him? Until he finally dropped.“

“So it would seem…” the Turk lieutenant replied, his own frown deepening. Of all the idiotic things to do… What in Leviathan’s name had that boy been thinking? As soon as the rookie finally woke up, he was going to be getting one hell of a lecture. Putting himself out of commission like that was beyond irresponsible. After the incident with Sato’s explosives going off in his former living room, Tseng had truly believed that Reno had learned to stop and think before doing something like this. Apparently, the lesson hadn’t sunk in quite as deeply as he’d thought.

And Tseng wasn’t especially happy about being scared half to death, either.

“Dammit… I should have called you myself. He accepted it much too easily, considering how determined he was when he got here.”

“Thank you, Viridia,” he said, shaking his head slightly. “When he comes to, you can be certain that I will impress upon him just how foolish this was.”

And quite possibly ground him until he moved into his new apartment. He was going to be losing privileges on the job, as well. For one… no more flying until further notice. The rookie had more than enough flight time to meet the minimum requirement for his certification once he was of age. He could practice in the simulator until then. He was also going to be doing a lot more paperwork over the next few days.

“Do that,” Viridia replied, “But Tseng… before you do, I think you should know why he did it.”

“I take it you have an idea on that?” He glanced fiendishly over at his inbox, which was, at present, dangerously close to overflowing. The perfect task for a rookie in need of a reminder that he didn’t know everything.

“I’m pretty sure I do. He was… upset… when I told him that the Materia Corps wouldn’t be looking to recruit him any time soon, so I asked him why. He said he didn’t want to disappoint you. I really don’t think he cares one way or the other about the materia. It’s your opinion that matters to him.”

That pronouncement gave Tseng pause. He pinched the bridge of his nose and let his elbow rest on top of his desk as he realized that right now might not be the most prudent of times to be planning the rookie’s punishment.

“I have never insisted upon him being a magic user. Most of us are not,” he said at last.

“Tseng, for Shiva’s sake, you sent him to Junon for one on one training with member of the Materia Corps. You don’t think that might have given him the impression that it was a little more important to you than you were letting on?”

Definitely the wrong time to be planning punishments.

“… I simply didn’t want him falling behind the others in training.” As soon as he said it, he realized how stupid that sounded. Most Turks picked up the basics of materia combat during the month or so they were trained in its use and then went back to using their preferred weapon and never looked at it again. Hell, even he hardly ever carried it, and he was allegedly one of the team’s more advanced users. Shay was the only one of them who regularly equipped any kind of materia on missions.

“Just… maybe go easy on him? Not too easy, because what he did was outright idiotic, but… you know, don’t eat him alive or anything.“

Tseng snorted softly in laughter in spite of himself, and leaned back in his chair. “I can assure you, Viridia… my diet has never included misbehaving rookies.”

“Good. I hear they can be very fattening,” she teased,“There’s probably not much I can do from here, but let me know if you need anything. Even if it’s just moral support, okay?”

“Thank you, Viridia. We’ll talk again soon… and next time, I promise it will be a social call.”

“Now, now… don’t go making promises someone might make you break,” she gently scolded him before ending the call, and he smiled slightly. She did have a point. He tucked his phone back into his pocket, and stood. He still had to explain what had happened to Veld.

---

Reno stirred slightly, and tried to force his eyes open. It took far more effort than it really should have, and when he finally managed it, even the dimmed lights in the room made him flinch. He felt like someone had thoroughly clobbered him in the training hall, and his head was still pounding. With a groan, he squeezed them shut again.

A moment later, he heard quiet footsteps moving toward him.

“Still alive, are yeh?” a voice prodded, and the rookie internally sighed, wondering how he’d wound up in Medical. It was several seconds before he remembered, and when he did, he had to bite back a second groan.

“Yeah… but can ya tell Tseng otherwise?” he muttered, sitting up slightly, and propping himself up on an elbow as he opened his eyes. He immediately regretted it. The wave of dizziness hit him hard, and the entire room spun. Dr. Ward eased him back against the pillow behind him.

“Take it slow, yeh little troublemaker. Yer nowhere near a hundred percent yet. But first thing’s first… now that yer awake, it’s time yeh got some food inta yeh. There’s only so much I can do with an IV. And don’t yeh try and tell me yer not hungry. I’ve got it on good authority that yeh’ve been ignoring medical orders and skipping meals. If I didn’t know yeh were already feeling miserable enough, I’d be lecturing yeh on that right now.”

The redhead finally opened his eyes again, squinting until his vision adjusted to the light level in the room… and realized that he had no idea where he was. It didn’t look like the Medical Suite. It was bare, but cozy little room. Windowless, and with a small cabinet in the corner that covered the distance from floor to ceiling. He glanced down at his hand and saw it had been skewered by a rather large-looking needle that had been inserted into a noticeably engorged vein. It that was connected to a long tube that snaked its way up to a plastic bag hanging from a metal pole beside him. He immediately felt woozy just looking at it.

“… Um… Where am I, exactly?” he asked, hurriedly averting his gaze.

“One of the medical suite’s quiet rooms. We use them when we have a patient that just needs ta be left alone fer a bit. Yeh certainly aren’t the first person I’ve treated fer materia-related exhaustion around this place. At least half the members of Soldier have wound up in here at some point.”

He stretched slightly and only then realized how stiff he felt.

“How long was I out?” he asked. Hopefully, not too long. Tres had strongly implied yesterday that he wanted him to fill in for Rude when needed while his fellow-rookie was in Junon for the week.

“It’s nearly five-thirty,” the doctor replied.

“What?!” Reno yelped, sitting up in bed. The room tilted wildly, and he groaned loudly. “Okay… that was a bad idea.”

Ward clucked her tongue and gently pushed him back down again.

“Don’t yeh ever listen when someone tells yeh not ta do something?”

“In my experience… no,” a voice from the doorway stated. “How is he?”

Reno sank down against the pillow, cringing. It figured. Despite all his claims that it was nonsense, Reno was convinced that Tseng had some sort of sixth sense, if not outright psychic powers. There was no other explanation for the way he always turned up right when you needed him… or, alternatively, when you desperately didn’t want him to.

“Hmph… And just who summoned yeh?” Ward asked, and Reno was surprised at how cross she seemed to be with his mentor. “In any case, he’s still a bit woozy. I was just about ta go and see what’s left in the cafeteria fer him. Some food should perk him up a bit.”

“The cafeteria? I thought you made it a point not to punish you patients while they were still recovering, Justinia…” Tseng deadpanned. The glare the doctor cast at the senior Turk almost made Reno wince.

“… Did I miss somethin’?” he asked, looking back and forth between the pair. Tseng shook his head.

“No,” he replied, firmly, before turning back to Ward. “Is he free to go, or do you intend to hold him hostage all night to punish me for my transgression?”

“Yeh mind yer tone, Tseng. I’m not the one who put him in this state,” the doctor said, warningly, “Yeh can take him home. He’s ta be fed and put ta bed. In that order… I don’t care if he’s so tired yeh have ta spoon-feed him. He needs ta eat and he needs ta do it soon. And I want ta see him again first thing tamorrow morning.”

“Understood,” Tseng replied.

The doctor nodded and turned back to her patient, gently unhooking the IV and drawing out the needle. Reno’s eyes widened in horror has he got a good look as just how long the damn thing was, and for a moment, he was almost certain he was going to pass out. The redhead whimpered softly, and Tseng slipped past the doctor and over to the bed. A moment later he was helping the rookie up. For Reno, just putting one food in front of the other took almost superhuman effort, but somehow, he managed. He bid Dr. Ward goodnight with a brief wave, and then simply let Tseng haul him bodily to the elevator.

“Why’s she so pissed at you?” he asked, slightly bewildered.

“Because I’m responsible for your training… and your training resulted in you paying her an unexpected visit.”

The elevator dropped them off at the parking deck, and the redhead was a little surprised to find Tseng’s car waiting for them just a few feet away, instead of in its usual spot.

“I spoke to Viridia while you were there,” the Turk lieutenant continued.

Fuck. Today just kept getting better and better.

“… So… how how come you’re not as pissed at me as the Doc is at you?” he ventured, cautiously, knowing what the woman must have told him.

“For the much same reason,” Tseng replied somewhat vaguely, helping him into the car, “Further discussion can wait until you’ve recovered a bit more. You are under the good doctor’s orders to eat and sleep. And as you have already observed, she’s none too pleased with me at the moment, so I intend to see that you follow those orders to the letter.”

~end chapter 54~