Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 68: Tseng’s Return

When Rude had awakened, it had been to the unique sensation of having two women curled against either side… and a third laying half on top of him and half on top of one of her sisters. The headache and familiar feeling of being extremely hungover had quickly followed. As had a wave of barely repressed nausea as the surface he’d been sleeping on undulated languidly beneath him when he attempted to move.

Waterbeds were clearly not good for hangovers. How Reno could stand waking up to this every time they went out drinking was beyond him. He was still feeling faintly queasy two hours later when Reno himself finally walked through the door of his apartment.

“Have a nice time last night?” the redhead crowed, entirely too loudly for Rude’s current overly-sensitive condition. He winced and looked up at his friend.

“… What I remember of it…” he replied. “Remind me to stay away from that Mideelian absinthe. That stuff’ll kill you. Where the hell have you been?”

“Eh… ya know. You were gettin’ some. Figured you probably didn’t wanna make it a five-way,” he replied, vaguely, with a shrug. “What’s for breakfast? I’m starved!”

“Hmph… You think I’m in any condition to cook right now?” Rude asked, still wondering where in the nine hells the other rookie had spent the night, but in too much misery to care all that much at the moment. Reno snickered and joined him on the couch.

“Well, I’m pretty sure you don’t want me doin’ it…” he teased. Rude groaned loudly at the very thought of the redhead’s cooking, and started to get up. Reno laughed and eased him back down onto the cushions.

“I was kiddin’, man,” he chuckled, “I ordered delivery on the way home. Should be here any minute.”

Rude managed a weak smile, and leaned back against his seat, letting his eyes close. Hangover aside… he’d had a hell of night. Well… as he’d said, what he could remember of it. Quite a bit of it was more than a little foggy, and he still wasn’t sure he wanted to know where a few of the… ahem… ‘toys’ he’d found in the bed this morning had come from. Or, for that matter, where one or two of them had been last night…

It wasn’t something he was in any rush to do again any time soon – and it certainly would never have happened if Reno hadn’t quite literally picked those girls up for him – but he was finding it hard to regret it.

“Forget about Margaret yet?” Reno prodded, jokingly. The other rookie cracked an eye open and snorted softly in laughter… and then wished he hadn’t, as the pain between his eyes spiked.

“At this point I think I drank away my memory of most of the last six months,” he replied. “I need coffee. Desperately.”

“Heh… comin’ up,” the redhead grinned, before making his way into the kitchen. Rude, meanwhile, remained right where he was. He mentally shook his head – as physically doing so would only aggravate the symptoms of his hangover. The sneaky little bastard had had planned this from the start, he just knew it. The second he’d spotted those girls, Reno’d decided on what he was going to do and set things in motion.

And Rude wasn’t even mad about it.

It was kind of hard to be when said plan had actually worked. It still hurt that Margaret had left him, but somehow knowing that there were other women out there who found him… desirable… made a bigger difference to him than he would have expected. He was a little miffed that Reno hadn’t discussed this with him first and had just gone right ahead and set him up… but, to be fair, if the redhead had confided his intentions to him, Rude would probably have shut it down immediately for fear of being rejected.

And it certainly hadn’t been an unpleasant experience, by any means.

Still… he didn’t think he was going to be looking for another girlfriend any time soon. He just wasn’t ready for that again quite yet. But continuing to pine for Margaret somehow seemed a bit… silly… when he thought about her now. She’d been amazing, but she wasn’t perfect. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that she was never really right for him anyway. He’d just been blinded by infatuation. And sex.

Reno snickered nearby and a finger gently poked him in the shoulder.

“Hey… you pass out on me there, or what?”

Rude opened his eyes and raised his head from the back of the couch. The redhead was standing in front of him holding out a cup of coffee. He smiled gratefully and took it.

---

By Monday, both rookies had recovered from their respective weekends of debauchery. Or at least, that’s what Rude assumed Reno had been up to. He’d tried a number of times to pry information out of him over where he’d disappeared to Friday night, but to no avail. The redhead had only answered in generalities. Rude wasn’t sure if it was because whatever he’d done was particularly embarrassing – though, with Reno, that was a little hard to believe… nothing really seemed to embarrass him much – or because it had the potential to get him into trouble of some sort.

The latter was a distinct possibility… and if that was the case, Rude decided that maybe it was best he didn’t know. He stopped asking.

He arrived at the office early on Monday, and very nearly ran headlong into Remy as he was exiting the elevator. She was struggling to carry a stack of boxes labeled with various sizes of ammunition down the hallway.

“… Need a hand?” he asked. Remy shook her head.

“I’ve got it…” she replied, in a strained voice, as the box on top began to slide. Rude quickly moved to steady it.

“…”

“On second thought…” she sighed. “Would you mind?”

The rookie took half the load from her, and followed her to her office. She set her boxes down on her desk with a soft grunt of relief, and Rude did the same.

“Thank you,” she said, with a groan, “The Requisitions department is apparently… annoyed… with me for failing to meet the deadline. I’m being forced to retrieve our supplies personally as penance.”

They walked out of her office, heading for the elevator again. As they reached it, Rodney was just stepping out into the hallway, and he nodded in greeting.

“How much more is there?” Rude asked.

“… Enough that I… require a second set of hands to get all of it up here in a timely manner,” Remy replied, somewhat hesitantly… though a moment later, she seemed a bit more decisive, “Come with me.”

Rodney smirked slightly. “Nothing like getting voluntold to do some heavy lifting first thing in the morning.”

Remy paused halfway into the elevator and turned around, fixing the other rookie with a sharp look.

“I’m so glad you think so. You can join us as well,” she said, with a smug smile as the other rookie blanched slightly. Rude snickered quietly to himself. Sometimes his fellow rookie just didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut.

---

Reno didn’t even have the opportunity to make it to headquarters before being waylaid on Monday morning. The moment he stepped into the elevator, a familiar face was there to ‘greet’ him.

“You,” Rufus said, scowling, “Finally… Perhaps you’ll be more forthcoming than your accursed team leader. Where. Is. Tseng?”

The redhead blinked in surprise, caught off guard by such an unexpected demand so early in the morning, and for a moment could only open and close his mouth ineffectively as his brain attempted to reboot itself. Dear Ifrit, he needed coffee…

“Well?” the vice president demanded, petulantly. He hit the emergency stop button on the control panel, effectively holding the Turk hostage until he got the information he wanted.

“Dunno,” Reno finally managed.

“What in the nine hells do you mean you ‘don’t know’? Are you or are you not his alleged ‘protege’?” he hissed. The rookie glared at him and folded his arms over his chest.

“I mean I don’t know. Lose the fuckin’ attitude and talk to me like a goddamn human being, will ya? I’m not holdin’ out on ya… I just wasn’t expectin’ a fuckin’ interrogation before I found coffee this mornin’.”

Rufus scowled and looked away for a moment. “I heard what happened. It’s been weeks since he contacted me. I’m… concerned about him,” he said at last.

“… Yeah. You ‘n me both,” the redhead replied. “I really don’t know where he is, though. I haven’t heard from him either.”

The young executive seemed genuinely shocked by the news. His shoulders slumped, dejected, and he sighed heavily.

“Veld wouldn’t tell me anything. He just said that Tseng needed some time away.”

“Yeah, well… all he’s told me is that Tseng left Wutai almost a week ago. But he doesn’t know where he went. I don’t think we’re gonna know ’til Tseng decides to tell us himself. He’s not answerin’ his phone. For anyone. Veld thinks he’s got it shut off.”

“… I see,” Rufus replied. He grudgingly pressed the button again, and the elevator resumed its trek upwards. As it arrived at Turk headquarters, he looked up at the redhead. “You… will tell me if you should hear anything?”

“Yeah. I’ll keep ya up to date, sir,” he said, stepping out. Rufus nodded, and the doors closed behind him, carrying him upwards to the executive offices.

He felt bad for Rufus. Tseng was right… once you got past the spoiled, elitist, entitled attitude and the cold, aloof demeanor, the Shinra heir really wasn’t so awful. He took a little getting used to, and you had to be willing to endure plenty of insults and pretentious posturing… and occasionally outright tell him to stop being such a dick… but a lot of that, Reno suspected at any rate, was just Rufus lashing out and keeping people at a distance to protect himself. Tseng was the only person he really let get close to him… and that seemed to have backfired, because now the Turk lieutenant had disappeared without a word to him.

He’d done the same to Reno… so the rookie knew exactly how he felt. But at least he had the other Turks to rely on. Who the hell else did Rufus have?

Reno shook his head and made his way to his office, hoping that he’d soon have something to report back to the vice president.

---

Tseng remained in Junon for over a week, slowly sifting though his options, but remained undecided. Through it all, though, Viridia’s support was unwavering. She comforted him when his guilt reduced him to a moping, depressed shell of himself. She soothed him when anger got the better of him. But more that anything else, she was simply there. He wasn’t sure if she could see it, but that reliable presence made a world of difference to him.

After growing tired of the bar and spending a few days in self-inflicted seclusion, she had finally coaxed him out into the world again, taking him on a day trip south along the shore line. He’d confided many things to her… perhaps the most important of which being that he was still heavily leaning towards leaving Shinra. She never tried to dissuade him, nor did she pressure him to quit. Viridia understood that it needed to be his decision or it would never sit right with him.

By Wednesday of the following week, he was reconsidering yet again, but was no closer to making his choice. He did finally come to one conclusion, however. He needed to speak to his mentor… because he was his mentor. Veld knew Tseng perhaps better than anyone, even his dear Viridia, and what he truly needed right now was a different perspective.

He also needed to speak to Reno. He knew that the teen must be more than a little worried by now, and it only added to his shame that he’d allowed that concern to drag out needlessly for so long. Besides which, he missed him. He’d been gone for close to a month now and it was beginning to register how oddly boring and uneventful life was without his rookie in it.

The door to Viridia’s quarters opened and she strolled in, stretching her arms over her head with a yawn.

“Sweet Shiva, what a day…” she sighed, and shook her head, “New materia users are a handful.”

Tseng couldn’t help himself. He laughed quietly at the proclamation. His own experience with handing materia to those who’d never used it before was entirely too fresh in his memory. He’d been woefully unprepared… and quite frankly never wanted to go through it again with another rookie, if he could help it.

Which was right about when he realized something else. There was still a part of him that very much expected there to be another rookie… and welcomed it.

“Was that a laugh?” Viridia asked, smiling, “I was starting to worry you’d forgotten how to do that.”

“I believe I may have for a time,” he replied. “Viridia…”

“You look like a man who’s come to a decision,” she stated, before he could continue.

“Not entirely. I… am still not certain about my future with Shinra,” he confessed, “But I don’t think I can make a final decision from here. I don’t know if I can still live with being a Turk, and I won’t until I go back to being one.”

Viridia closed the distance between them, and pulled him close. “Then you should get your butt back to Midgar,” she chuckled. “Just remember… whatever you decide, you’ll always have me.”

“You have no idea what that means to me, Viridia,” he said, and kissed her. When he finally pulled away, he smiled faintly. “I… suppose I should let Veld know when to expect me.”

“I think he’d probably appreciate that,” she said in reply. Tseng released her and went over to his bag, rummaging through it until he found his PHS. He switched it back on, and frowned at the low battery icon that popped up on the device. Apparently he hadn’t charged it at any point in the last four and a half weeks. A moment later, notifications of messages and missed calls began flooding in.

“… Apparently I’ve been missed…”

“Hmph… of course you’ve been missed,” Viridia chided him. Tseng rolled his eyes and began looking for the phone’s charger, only to come up empty handed. Either he had neglected to pack it, or it had been lost at some point.

“I don’t suppose your phone’s charger would be compatible…” he queried. He doubted it. His company-issued PHS was one of the newest models, and the damned things tended to change every time a new one rolled out. The military wasn’t quite as up to date with such things as the Turks were, when they issued them at all. She took the phone from him, looking at the charging port, and shook her head.

“Not even close. I’d let you use mine, but it had an unfortunate run-in with a badly aimed lightning spell this afternoon. I don’t have my replacement yet.”

Tseng sighed. “I suppose it can wait until morning,” he said, “It’s rather a inconvenient time anyway. Veld is probably just sitting down to dinner with his family.”

He did have some time remaining on the battery, however. Enough to check his voice mail, at any rate and see what was so important that they’d been trying to reach him. The first one was from Remy… from the same day he’d left for Wutai. He quickly pressed play.

“Tseng, it’s Remy. Please call me back as soon as you get this. It’s about Reno,” the Turk’s voice intoned from the device. “He was admitted to Midgar General this morning with –”

The message abruptly cut off, and the phone went dead as the remaining power ran out. Tseng could only stand there, staring at the PHS in his hand, as a cold wave of fear washed over him. That message was weeks old… and there had been several more that had followed it.

They’d been trying to reach him. Something had happened to Reno – something serious enough to put him in the hospital – and they’d been trying to reach him… and he’d ignored them.

He felt sick. What if he’d been seriously injured on a mission? Dear Leviathan, what if it was worse? The thought of losing Reno… right after losing Mayu…

“Tseng… breathe!” Viridia’s voice commanded, cutting through the haze of rising panic. He instinctively obeyed and then turned to look at her. “Come on… the guys in the communications center owe me a favor. We’ll contact Veld and find out what’s going on.”

The pair of them left her quarters and made their way across the base towards the large communications room in the command building. They’d made it only about halfway there, when Tseng spotted one of Shinra’s airships being prepped for takeoff.

“Where is that going?” he asked, pulling up short. Viridia stopped a few paces later and turned to see what he was talking about.

“… Well… Midgar, I’m sure. We’ve been doing supply runs all week, transferring weapons and personnel in case the city is attacked again.”

“Get me on it.”

“Tseng, don’t you think –”

“If something has happened to him, I need to be there. If we waste time contacting Veld first, I may end up missing that flight,” he said, cutting her off. Viridia hesitated a moment, but at last, she nodded, and the pair reversed course, heading straight for the airship’s dock.

---

It was nearing eight when Tseng finally arrived in Midgar. He’d spent most of the trip silently willing the damned airship to go faster… and then doing the same while aboard the train that had carried him into Sector 1. Now, however, he was in control. His car had, of course, been right where he’d left it, and didn’t seem any the worse for having sat idle for a month. He was presently speeding through the streets of Midgar, at well above the posted limit.

His first thought had been to head straight to Midgar General… but then he wondered if perhaps he was being overly paranoid. Perhaps Reno had already been released. He was torn between going where he knew the redhead had been four weeks ago and going where he almost certainly would be now if he weren’t in the hospital.

He finally decided on Reno’s apartment. Worst case scenario, if he was nowhere to be found, he could at least locate the rookie’s charger, plug his phone in, and call Veld, demanding answers. That thought in mind, he crossed three lanes of traffic, and took the next exit into the Sector 3 residential district, arriving at the redhead’s complex in just under ten minutes.

As he made his way upstairs, he wondered if this was really the right decision. Perhaps he should have gone straight to the hospital. He shook his head. He was here now. Turning around and traveling halfway across the city without even checking was madness.

It was with much trepidation that he finally knocked on the door to Reno’s apartment. At first, he was worried that there was no one home… but a few seconds later, the sound of footsteps from inside met his ears, and finally, the door opened. Reno blinked up at him, standing in the doorway, an utterly shocked expression on his face.

“T-Tseng?”

He didn’t say anything. He simply grabbed the redhead, dragging him into a tight embrace, as a feeling of unadulterated relief overcame him.

---

To say he was surprised would have been an understatement of gross proportions. For a brief moment, Reno didn’t believe his own eyes. It wasn’t until Tseng was all but smothering him that it finally clicked that this was real and his own arms wrapped around his mentor in return.

“Are you alright?” Tseng asked after several long moments of simply enjoying their reunion. The redhead pulled back and looked at him, slightly confused.

“… ‘course I am? Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Remy’s message said you’d been in the hospital. Unfortunately my battery died before I could hear the whole thing. I was worried it must have been serious.”

Reno grinned. “Nah… just got hacked open by a bunch of doctors and put on medical restriction for a couple weeks.” His grin widened slightly at Tseng’s decidedly horrified expression. “I had appendicitis.”

Tseng breathed a sigh of relief. “Don’t scare me like that.”

“Tch… says the guy who leaves without sayin’ a word to me ‘n disappears for a month…” he replied, with a bit more acid in his voice than he’d intended. Yes, he was still a little angry about that… but it was vastly overshadowed by his joy at seeing the man had safely returned to Midgar. Tseng shook his head, and gently urged him back inside the apartment.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I just… couldn’t bring myself to face you. Not after the condition you saw me in that night. And the following morning, for that matter.”

Reno rolled his eyes. “Seriously? What… ? You thought I didn’t understand?”

“I was… embarrassed. And perhaps a bit ashamed, as well. I threw you out of my home when all you were trying to do was help. I threatened you, and very obviously scared you. I… am loath to think myself capable of it, but I might have even gone so far as to hurt you had I been given the chance. I wasn’t myself.”

The rookie smirked. “Like I’ve never been threatened before,” he replied. “Fuck it. I’m just glad you’re back. You… are back, right? You’re not just here to make sure I’m still alive and wish me a happy birthday, are ya?”

Tseng blinked in surprise, and struggled to pull up a mental calendar. When he finally succeeded, he realized that yes… today was indeed the redhead’s eighteenth birthday. He’d thoroughly lost track of the date while he’d been in Junon.

Tseng smiled and placed a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “I’ll admit, knowing you were hurt or sick was the impetus for my return and brought me home a bit sooner than I’d intended… but yes. I’m back,” he replied, “And… Happy birthday, Reno.”

Reno grinned widely. “Heh… You weren’t exactly the present I was expectin’, but I’ll take it,” he teased.

“Good… because I’m afraid I didn’t have time to shop in my rush to get here. I suppose I’m already too late for the party…”

The rookie shook his head. “Nah… Figured since everyone’s gotta work tomorrow we’d hold off on the celebration ’til the weekend when we could do it right.” he smirked, “Tch… but since you’re here, I probably better let that brat we call a vice president know you’re not missin’ anymore. He’s already cornered me once fishin’ for information. Hate to think what he might do to me if I didn’t keep him up to date like I promised.”

“No need. I’m already aware. And I suggest you refrain from referring to me as such.”

Tseng spun to face the new arrival, who was suddenly lingering at the still-open door. Rufus calmly stepped inside, shutting it behind him, as Reno tried to sputter a reply.

“This is how you live?” he snorted at the redhead, looking around at the little apartment, “Well… I suppose it would be several steps up for a slum rat.”

“Sir…” Tseng began in confusion.

“I had a tracking device planted on your car shortly after you left… just in case your cohorts elected not to alert me in a timely manner,” Rufus said, in answer to the question the Turk hadn’t had time to ask. “I’m not as helpless as people seem to think I am.”

Tseng only shook his head, and then pulled Rufus into a brief hug as well.

“Hang on… How’d you even get here?” Reno asked.

“I drove. Obviously,” Rufus sneered, and Tseng frowned.

“With no escort, I see…”

The vice president smirked. “I hardly believe I’m saying this… but I think I may have actually missed your unrelenting disapproval of such things.” His expression soon faltered, however. “But as much as I dislike tainting this reunion with business… there’s something you should be aware of. Which is the other reason I came, as you have yet to turn your blasted phone back on. I wanted you to hear it from me, rather than being blindsided by it.”

“Sir?” the Turk lieutenant queried, and judging by the look on Rufus’ face, Reno couldn’t help but think that something serious had happened. And there was really only one thing it could be.

“… We’re really doin’ it, aren’t we?” the redhead interjected.

“The announcement will be going out to the general population within the hour,” Rufus confirmed, “Negotiations with Wutai for a peaceful resolution have utterly failed. Shinra and Wutai are now at war.”

~end chapter 68~