Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 10: Ghost Stories

“… and when he woke up, he found himself in a bathtub filled with ice! And his…”

“Yeah, we know, Reno… His kidney was gone,” Elena interjected before the redhead could finish. Rude snickered at the expression on his partner’s face, as Reno glared at the rookie in the darkness of the Turks’ private lounge. Rude had been indulging Reno’s mediocre storytelling every year for nearly as long as he’d known the man. It was less troublesome than listening to him complain that Rude ‘wasn’t in the Halloween spirit’. He’d neglected to mention that to Elena, however, and it seemed she was a bit more willing to call him out on it. The redhead let the flashlight he was holding under his chin drop to his lap.

“Geez, ‘Lena… spoil the ending, why don’t ya?” he muttered, looking somewhat dejected.

“Ugh, seriously? We know the ending! Everyone knows the ending. That story has been around since before you were born.” Elena retorted.

“So? It’s a classic,” Reno replied, “Come on, Rude… back me up here.”

“… Sorry. Gotta go with the rookie this time. It’s lame, Reno,” Rude said, adding his two cents on the matter, as Elena flashed the Turks’ second-in-command an I-told-you-so grin, “Besides… you tell it every year.” Reno folded his arms across his chest.

“Fine… I s’pose you two think you can do better?” he snapped. But neither of them had the opportunity to answer the challenge. Without warning, the room was illuminated by the harsh glare of overhead florescent lighting, and all three Turks jumped in surprise, turning toward the door.

“Gaahh! Little warning next time, man!” Reno yelled, squinting in the unexpected brightness.

“Dare I even ask?” Tseng said as his gaze fell upon his subordinates, all seated in a circle on the floor of the lounge.

“Tomorrow’s Halloween,” Rude said simply.

“Ah. The annual retelling of the tale of the stolen kidney, then,” Tseng snickered, rolling his eyes, and strolling into the room. He took a seat on the arm of the overstuffed sofa that sat against one wall.

“It’s a classic!” Reno insisted, irritably.

“It’s an urban legend that’s been around for decades. And not a very convincing one, at that… Frankly, if I were going to steal a kidney, I certainly wouldn’t leave a witness,” Tseng replied, “If you’re going to make us listen to your so-called ghost stories every Halloween, you might at least try telling one that we haven’t all heard a dozen times for a change. In fact, I’d be willing to bet you don’t even know any decent ghost stories…”

“Yeah? You challengin’ me, Boss?” Reno asked with a smirk.

“What if I am?” Tseng ventured, cocking an eyebrow at the redhead. It was a slow day… and it was almost Halloween, after all. He wasn’t above having a little holiday fun.

“You’re on, boss-man,” declared Reno, “You and me… one story each. Elena and Rude pick the winner.”

“Mmm… And what’s the prize?” Tseng asked, smiling slightly.

“… Good question,” Reno replied, thinking for a moment, “Ok… if I win, you take my place next week on President Shinra’s security detail in Junon…”

Reno had been dreading that assignment from the moment it had been handed to him. Not that it was anything difficult, but the President’s speeches were notoriously long-winded. And boring. And Reno would have to stand through the whole damned thing…

“Done. And if my story is superior to yours?”

“Name it,” said Reno.

“No alcohol, no cigarettes, and no sex for one full week,” Tseng said, smirking at the expression that came over Reno’s face. Were it not for his friend’s already-alabaster skin, he would have sworn the man had just gone a shade or two paler… which, of course, was the entire point.

“I’d back down, if I were you,” Rude said, nudging Reno with his elbow, “I’m not sure you’d survive if you lose.”

“What’s the matter, Reno? Not up to the challenge?” Tseng goaded him. Reno scowled at him.

“You think you’re gonna scare me off that easy? You’re on. Not like you’re gonna win anyway…”

“We’ll see,” Tseng replied, as he twisted around and flicked off the lights.

---

Tseng graciously allowed Reno the privilege of going first. Elena and Rude sat across from the two of them, much more eager to hear whatever demented tale Reno’s mind might concoct, now that his favorite vices were on the line.

“Alright… Fuck the classics,” Reno began, “This one’s a true story. It happened when I was just a kid…”

You all know I come from the Sector 2 slums. I could tell ya any number of stories ’bout that place. It’s where the lowest of the gutter trash end up when they get run out of the more respectable sectors. You got your decent people, of course, but a lot of scum besides. I was probably somewhere around twelve or thirteen when it all happened.

One day, dead of winter, kids just started disappearin’ all over the sector. No one knew what happened to em’. It wasn’t strange for a kid or two ta go missin’ every once in a while down there… but this was different. Whole bunch of ’em all a once, and no one saw what happened to any of ’em. ‘Course the first thing people thought was that it was some pervert, grabbing up kids and cartin’ ’em off somewhere to do fuck knows what to ’em. So parents started watchin’ their kids like hawks…

That didn’t stop it, though… Kids kept right on disappearin’. Lot of kids like me down there… no parents, no family, out on their own… no one givin’ a rat’s ass if they come home or not. Those were the ones that went missing after people started to take notice. It went on like that for more’n a month, and then… it just stopped. Just like that. And no one knew why. None of the kids ever came back, but no more went missin’ either, and eventually people stopped worryin’ about it.

“Wait a minute…” Elena groaned, rolling her eyes as she cut him off, “That’s how that terrible movie about the disfigured lunatic living in the sewers starts out… You know, the one that came out on DVD last week? What was it called…? Oh! Cut ’em To Ribbons!”

“… It is not!” Reno protested. Mentally, he was panicking… he’d never have pegged Elena as a fellow aficionado of low-budget slasher flicks. What were the odds that she would’ve picked up same movie he had over the weekend? Elena snatched the flashlight from the redhead’s hand, and passed it over to Tseng.

“It’s your turn, sir…” she said, ignoring Reno.

“Hey! I wasn’t even done yet!”

“… I don’t think it’s much of a contest at this point,” Rude noted.

“Oh yeah?” said Reno, “We’ll just see. He’s still got to come up with something scary…”

Tseng smiled a thin smile, and began to speak in a low voice.

“My story is a little different. I don’t spend my off-duty hours engrossed in the subtle nuances of B-grade horror movies.”

“And just what’s wrong with enjoying bad horror movies?” Reno asked testily. It was actually his favorite genre… the worse the movie, the more he loved it.

He noticed that Elena, too, looked a little perturbed by Tseng’s comment, and made a mental note to invite her over for a marathon one of these days. Rude wouldn’t touch ‘Zombutterflies’ or ‘It Came from the Septic Tank… Again!’ with a ten foot pole – though Ifrit forbid you should ever say anything disparaging about his precious ‘Shadow & Sword’ obsession…

“I never said there was anything wrong with it. It’s simply not something I personally enjoy,” the Turk leader replied, “May I continue?”

Reno gave a noncommittal grunt and waved him on.

“Everything I am about to tell you is the truth… and if any of you doubt it when I’m through, you’re welcome to look up the incident report for yourselves. You’ll find it in the Turks Archives, in my own handwriting.”

Have you ever wondered why no one… not even members of the Turks… is permitted on the 14th floor? Oh, we tell the employees that it’s a private area, only accessible by the highest level security clearance. Most people think it’s some sort of lounge for Shinra executives. But that’s not the real story. The fact is that the 14th floor has been sealed for the last twelve years.

Obviously, this all happened before any of you were even being considered for promotion to the Turks. I myself had only been one for a few short years. The 14th floor used to be part of Shinra’s archives. It’s a literal maze of floor to ceiling shelves, drawers, and filing cabinets that once contained vast amounts of company data awaiting entry into the computer databases, unused equipment, unclaimed personal property… thousands upon thousands of items and files, all waiting to be sorted into their proper places at some point. In fact, it was so maze-like back then, that’s what quite a few people called it… The Maze.

Walking onto the 14th floor was akin to venturing into the unknown. It was almost disturbingly easy to simply vanish into the Maze… and even easier to get lost. The people who worked on the floor knew it all like the back of their hand, of course, but anyone else wouldn’t have a chance.

“Yeah, yeah… so when’s this get scary?” Reno muttered. Elena elbowed him.

“Just wait,” Tseng replied.

As it happened, the 14th floor had it’s own ongoing drama amongst the employees. A love triangle, you might say. A shy, and somewhat disturbed young man named Haru Ishaboda was at the heart of it. As near as I was able to piece together after the fact, Mr. Ishaboda was… enamored… with one of his female coworkers. A woman by the name of Andromeda Marcus. She, however, was apparently involved with another young man named Noah Richardson.

One night, quite late… several hours after I’d gone home for the day, actually… I received a call from Veld…

“Veld was head of the Turks before Tseng,” Reno interjected, noting Elena’s somewhat confused look.

“Ah, yes, that’s right… You wouldn’t know anything of Veld, would you,” Tseng replied, “I took over for him a year or two before you were tapped for the recruitment program.”

In any case, I received a call from Veld. There had been a murder on the 14th floor. Noah Richardson was dead, and the killer was still hiding somewhere in the Maze. The floor had been sealed off, but the security guards on the night watch didn’t dare go in after him… and when I got there, I could understand why.

Even in my short time as a Turk, I’d seen things… horrible things… that would make most people turn away in revulsion. But the sight that greeted me turned my stomach. My partner at the time, Artemis, was as hardened as they came, but even he was shocked.

The man had been stripped, disemboweled, and castrated… His heart had been cut out, and…

Tseng paused, and shook his head.

“On second thought, I really don’t care to go any farther into the specifics. Let’s just say it was the singularly most disturbing and horrific thing I had ever seen… have ever seen… and leave it at that.”

Reno and Elena exchanged a wide-eyed glance. Coming from someone as unflappable Tseng… that was something. He cleared his throat and continued.

Our initial plan was to wait for backup. More Turks had been called in and would be arriving shortly, and the killer had literally hundreds of places from which he could ambush us. And if he was one of the employees who worked on the floor – as we suspected he was, given that 14 was virtually ignored by anyone who didn’t work there – he would have the added benefit of knowing his way around.

But then we heard it… a shrill, desperate cry for help. It sounded like a woman’s voice, and suddenly our pursuit of a deranged killer had become a hostage situation. Artemis and I made the decision to go in after the killer. I’d only ever had cause to visit the 14th floor once prior to that night… and I hadn’t ventured far into it. Artemis had only ever gone a bit farther. We were lost before we even realized it.

By then, we could hear muffled cries coming from deeper inside. We followed it as best we could, but by the time we found the source it was too late. It was almost as if he knew we were coming. Miss Marcus was on the floor, bleeding badly from hundreds of cuts all over her body. She looked me in the eye as her life faded away. Ishaboda was standing over her with a knife. His eyes were glazed over like a madman… And he was laughing.

Even as we took aim at him and ordered him to drop his weapon and surrender, he was laughing. And he kept laughing as he stabbed himself in the heart. He laughed until his dying breath a few moments later.

“Ok, so the guy went nuts over a girl,” said Reno, “Big deal. Kinda more fucked up than ya usually hear about… but that shit happens all the time.”

“I’m not finished yet,” Tseng replied, “I still haven’t told you why the floor remains sealed, even now.”

You see, afterward, the scene was cleaned up immediately. No one was told anything about what had happened that night… the mysterious disappearances of Richardson, Marcus, and Ishaboda were explained away with some story, and the rest of the employees of the Maze went about their daily routine, none the wiser…

But things were never the same on the 14th floor. It began with minor incidents… a worker tripping over something that wasn’t there… files falling from the shelves for no apparent reason…

Soon, however, it progressed to far more sinister occurrences. One young woman was nearly crushed when one of the shelving units toppled over. And if you ever saw one of those things, it would be fairly obvious that they don’t just fall over. Other people claimed that when they were working late they could hear crying… sometimes even screaming coming from somewhere deep inside the Maze, but when they followed the sound they could never find it’s source. One man heard someone laughing behind him, and was so disturbed by the sound of it… even more so when he discovered that no one was there… that he applied for a transfer to another department.

It wasn’t long before no one was willing to work on the 14th floor, and so the files and equipment were carted off to other parts of the building, and the floor was sealed… permanently.

“Only the President, the Vice President, and myself have access… and quite frankly, I have no intention of ever using it.” he finished. Reno rolled his eyes.

“Right… You’re telling us the 14th floor is haunted?” he said, smirking, “Please.”

“Believe what you will,” Tseng shrugged, “The incident is, as I mentioned earlier, recorded in the archives of Turks case files. Case #1027-9, if you’d care to read it for yourself.”

“Oh, come on…” Reno snorted. He wasn’t buying this bullshit. The Shinra Building was haunted. Sure…

“Read the case file if you don’t believe me,” said Tseng, shrugging indifferently, “It’s all there in black and white.”

“… Tseng wins,” Rude intoned. Elena was nodding in agreement. The leader of the Turks chuckled.

“If I recall correctly, the deal was no alcohol, no cigarettes, and no sex for one week, yes?” Tseng added, taunting the younger man with his loss.

“H-hey! Wait a minute!” Reno tried to interject… but it was too late, and he knew it. Resigned to his fate, he sighed and buried his face in his hands. “I fucking hate you all.”

---

The next morning was a Friday. No work the day after meant that Reno could have enjoyed a long night of drunken Halloween fun… were it not for losing his little bet with Tseng the prior evening. An entire week of sobriety, nicotine withdrawal, and celibacy loomed before him. Any one of them individually he could easily tolerate… but all three at once? The next seven days were really gonna suck.

What really irked him, though was that the only reason Tseng’s story had been even remotely scary was because he claimed it was all true. Reno knew better. Ghost were a load of superstitious bullshit, and even if there really had been a murder on the 14th floor years back, he doubted that it was as dramatic as Tseng had claimed. Of course, Elena had bought into it, hook, line, and sinker. And Rude, that traitor… he’d gone along with the rookie just so he could watch him suffer, Reno was sure of it.

‘Well,’ Reno thought, ‘If Tseng’s gonna ruin my Halloween and my entire week with that lame-ass story of his, the least I can do is prove that it’s a total fake.’

And with that thought in mind, he set off toward the Turks case file archives.

Unfortunately when he got there, he suddenly realized that he’d completely forgotten the case number. The archives were huge, containing files that went back for more than 20 years. The Turks had always kept excessively detailed records. There were files on every single incident the Turks had ever handled… no matter how trivial. With a groan, Reno realized that it could take days to find the file without its reference number. He could always ask Tseng for it… but then he would have to admit what he was up to. No way would Tseng want to see Reno prove that he’d made the whole thing up… He’d probably find some menial little task to keep him busy for the rest of the day just to keep him out of the archives.

So that just left him with a manual search. Current cases were all neatly organized in the company’s computer database. Well… most of them. There was always a backlog waiting to be entered. But older cases? Something from nearly years ago? The computer records didn’t go back that far. Not for the Turks archives, at any rate. Generally once a case was closed by the Turks, it was quietly swept under the rug and never mentioned again. Shinra had never seen the need to digitally archive the massive number of physical case files the Turks had generated over the years.

“Well… Guess I’ve got some reading to do,” Reno sighed, “Let’s see… Twelve years ago, he said…”

Luckily, the archives were organized enough that one could find something if one knew generally when it had occurred. Reno headed towards the filing cabinets towards the middle of the room, reading the dates on the fronts of the drawers. He finally found the year he was looking for, groaning aloud upon discovering that said year took up three full cabinets and part of a fourth, each as tall as he was…

As he was reaching for the first drawer, he heard the door open behind him.

“Shit!” he hissed, ducking out of sight. There was a reason he never came in here. Every time he had ever come across Reno in the archive room, Tseng had been reminded how far behind Reno perpetually was on digitally filing his case reports. Which inevitably resulted in the Turk leader ordering him to get on it immediately. Reno was definitely not in the mood for paperwork today.

But the footsteps that followed the opening of the door were most certainly not Tseng’s… They were much lighter, and more delicate. More female. He grinned…

‘Least I’ll get one good Halloween scare in today,’ he thought to himself, and as the footsteps reached the row of cabinets he was crouched behind, he leapt out, shrieking like a madman.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” a female voice squealed, and the figure before him back-pedaled several feet before stumbling and falling flat on her backside with a soft thud… at which point, Reno burst out laughing.

“God DAMMIT, Reno!” a very peeved Elena shouted from the floor, “You scared the hell out of me!”

Reno cackled and offered her his hand. She took it and he helped her back to her feet.

“Sorry,” he said, though he didn’t sound the least bit remorseful.

“What are you doing back here, anyway?” she asked, brushing dust from the floor off of her pants.

“I could ask you the same question…”

“W-well, I… Um…”

“Ha! You didn’t believe Tseng’s story either! Admit it. You were going to look it up.”

“… Yeah,” she replied, glancing down at the ground, as if she had no right at all to question the validity of anything Tseng said.

“Great… finding the file will go a lot faster if there’s two of us looking… I’ll take the first cabinet, you take the last, and we’ll meet in the middle.”

Elena rolled her eyes. “Or we could just open the drawer with the files 1020-0 to 1030-9…” she replied, pointing to the marked drawer.

“… Or we could do that.”

“You forgot the case number, didn’t you?”

Reno shrugged and opened the drawer. “Remembering menial shit like that is what rookies are for…” he drawled, “So… uh… what was that number again?”

Elena sighed and leafed through the tabbed files until she found the one she was looking for, and pulled it out, handing it to Reno.

“Awesome,” he smirked, and flipped it open.

---

“I still don’t buy it,” said Reno.

“But… but it was all there, just like Tseng said…” Elena replied. Their little trip to the archives hadn’t worked out quite as Reno had planned. Instead of debunking Tseng’s “ghost story”, the two Turks had found the file, just as he’d said they would, with an account of the events of that night exactly as Tseng had retold them… along with some very unsettling photos of the crime scene that made Elena glad she’d skipped lunch.

“I’ll bet he planted the file,” Reno grumbled, “I’ll bet he had the whole thing set up from the beginning. He knew I’d go looking for it after I lost the bet. Hell, he was probably setting me up right from the start.”

It was starting to get late. Normally, Reno would have been heading home soon for a beer or two, followed by some Halloween mischief, followed by another beer or two. But now, not only was he stuck honoring his bet, he was annoyed as well. There was no way he was actually going to believe the 14th floor was haunted.

“Why would he do that?” Elena said rolling her eyes as the pair made their way back to the Turks’ lounge.

“Maybe because he’s a sadistic bastard who wants to watch me suffer horrendously for the next week?” Reno offered, only half-teasingly.

“Or maybe it really did happen, and maybe the 14th floor really was sealed off because it’s haunted…”

“Oh, please,” said Reno, “Don’t tell me you’re gonna start buyin’ into this…”

“W-well…”

“Well… there’s only one way to settle this,” Reno proclaimed, “We go up to the 14th floor and spend the night.”

“W-WHAT?!” Elena squeaked, stopping in her tracks.

“Even if the part about the murders is true, there’s no such thing as ghosts. What’s the matter ‘Lena? Chicken?” he replied, smirking.

“N-no… of course not,” she replied, less than convincingly.

“So let’s go,” said Reno.

“What? Now?”

“Heh… no time like the present. We’re officially off duty for the weekend in forty minutes,” said Reno, “Besides… it’s Halloween. Even if I can’t drink, smoke, or fuck, I can damn well enjoy watching you freak out.”

Elena glared at him.

“Come on, ‘Lena…” he goaded, “You know you’re curious. And it’s not like you’re gonna be up there alone. I’m goin’, too.”

“Is that supposed to be reassuring?” she quipped. Though it wasn’t as if she had big plans for tonight. All she ever did on Halloween was hand out candy to trick-or-treaters, or go to the occasional party. A little Halloween adventure was actually kind of tempting. Besides… if she backed out, Reno would never let her forget it. “Alright. Let’s do it,” she said at last.

“Really?” Reno replied, looking somewhat surprised. He grinned, “Sweet.”

“Um… But Reno… how are we going to get onto the 14th floor? It’s sealed.”

“Just leave that to me. Meet me in the lounge in an hour,” he said, and disappeared down the hall, leaving Elena behind to wonder how he was planning to get into an area that only three people in the world had access to…

---

Elena tapped her foot impatiently as she checked her watch yet again. He was late. He’d said an hour. It going on two, now. What the hell was taking him so long?

Maybe Reno had been the one to chicken out. She giggled quietly at the thought of teasing him about how she’d been the one who was brave enough to show up… how she’d waited for him, totally committed to going through with their little plan… how he’d been too scared.

Her amusement was short-lived, however, as another thought occurred to her. This could just as easily be a Halloween prank at her expense. Reno might never have had any intention of showing up. Hell, he was probably laughing his ass off somewhere, or worse, watching her to see just how long she’d stand around waiting here for him. Just as she was about to start looking around for hidden cameras, the door opened.

“Yo, ‘Lena! Ready to go?” Reno called, peeking into the room.

“Where were you?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Heh… sorry ’bout that. Took a little longer than I thought it would,” he replied.

“What did?” She was curious now… Had he really managed to get them access to the 14th floor?

“Had a little chat with Rufus. It took some convincing… and a few other things… but he finally gave me his access code for the floor.

“A few other things?” Elena queried. Now she was really curious.

“Uh… I’d rather not get into it. Let’s just say that it didn’t involve sexual favors, this time. Gotta honor my bet, after all…” Reno replied, “So you comin’ or not?”

She was going to question him further on the details… but Reno was already back out the door and moving swiftly down the hallway. Elena scurried after him, following him to the elevator.

“What do you mean… it didn’t involve sexual favors this time?” she blurted out as she caught up to him.

“Loooong story,” Reno said, “And it ends with me in bed with Rufus’ girlfriend at the time’s mother. Her very… uh, heh… domineering… mother. By the way… if ya ever get the urge to set me up with one of your friends, I’m really not so into whips. Or hot wax.”

He shuddered at the memory, and hit the button for the 14th floor. The panel prompted him for a restricted access code, which he punched in.

“But why…”

“You seriously don’t want to know,” he said, cutting her off before she could weasel any other details out of him. As the elevator descended, the two Turks fell silent. Night had fallen, and by now most employees had gone home. Of course, the Shinra Building was never truly empty, but the closer they got to the deserted floor, the more the tension grew. Finally, the car stopped and the doors slid open.

“Ladies first,” he said with a half-smile, inviting Elena to take the first step out onto the deserted floor.

“Yeah. I don’t think so,” Elena said quickly. Reno shrugged and stepped out himself. Elena hesitantly followed him. Reno flicked on the flashlight he’d brought and shown its beam out into the looming darkness.

“Ah, this isn’t so bad,” said Reno, swinging the light around to get a better look at their surroundings, “So let’s see…”

He turned back towards the elevator, scanning the light over the wall.. About twenty feet away, he found a light switch and flipped it on. Above the two Turks, rows of florescent lights buzzed to life in pairs. Elena jumped slightly as one bulb shattered under the sudden surge of power showering the floor with bits of glass.

One thing was certain. No one had been here in years. The air was stale and somewhat musty, and everything seemed unnaturally still. Beyond that, however, Elena had to admit, there wasn’t anything all that frightening about the place now that it was properly lit.

“So… now what?” she asked, glancing over at Reno.

“I guess we should do a little exploring,” he replied, heading toward the only opening in the wall of shelving units that separated the elevators from the rest of the floor. As they passed into the main part of the space, Elena began to see why the place was once known as the Maze.

Even though the shelves were now empty, they were an imposing presence. Paths created by bookcases and cabinets snaked off in all directions, and the ones that didn’t actually reach all the way to the ceiling were so tall that even Reno couldn’t peer over them. The two Turks rounded a corner and found a small grouping of desks nestled into a corner.

“Man, would I hate to work here,” Reno muttered. Elena agreed. Not only could she not see anything beyond her immediate surroundings, she couldn’t even see the elevator anymore. What was more, they hadn’t even gone that far yet, and she was beginning to feel disoriented.

“Heh… lost already?” Reno taunted.

“Of course not,” she replied, flushing slightly.

“Good. ‘Cause my sense of direction sucks,” he said. For a moment, Elena felt a small twinge of panic, but one look at Reno’s face and she could tell he was just teasing her.

“Well, then you better not wander off… because no way am I gonna come looking for your sorry ass,” she retorted, and with that, she set off deeper into the Maze. Reno snickered and followed.

Though she had started off confidently enough, it wasn’t long before Elena wasn’t quite so sure of herself. The more turns she took, the more turned around she felt. She thought she knew the way back… but she was no longer as certain of it as she’d been a little while ago.

---

“Oh, that’s real nice…” Elena said sarcastically, looking over Reno’s shoulder. He’d made a rather crude drawing of a very well-endowed woman in the dust on one of the desks.

“You an art critic now, ‘Lena?” he asked with a grin. She ignored him. “Well… we’ve been up here almost two hours now. You seen any ghosts?”

“Not a one,” she replied. Reno leaned against the desk and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, staring at it longingly.

“Don’t s’pose you’d keep your mouth shut and let me cheat?” he commented. In response, Elena plucked the pack out of his hand. “Yeah, that’s what I figured,” Reno sighed.

“There’s no smoking allowed in the building, anyway,” Elena pointed out.

“Not like anyone would notice up here,” he smirked, “Ah, man, this week is gonna kill me.”

“And these won’t?”

“Oh, goddammit… don’t you start that crap, too,” he said in a warning tone.

“What do you mean, ‘too’?” she asked, shoving the pack into her own pocket.

“Tch… Rude’s been tryin’ ta get me to quit,” he replied, “Been on my case about it for weeks now.”

“Well… it’s not a terrible idea, you know,” she commented. That particular habit of Reno’s was by far her least favorite.

Reno groaned. “Great… so now you’re joinin’ the bandwagon.”

“I’m just saying… It’s not good for you, and you’d be better off if you gave it up.”

Before Reno could fire off a retort, something clattered loudly to the floor elsewhere in the Maze, the sound echoing in the still air. Both Turks jumped.

“W-what was that?” Elena whispered.

“Dunno,” Reno whispered back, straining to hear any other sounds, “Probably nothing.”

“… Then why are you whispering?”

Reno glared at her, and motioned for her to follow him as he set out in the general direction the sound had come from.

---

“Has Elena left for the weekend?” Tseng asked. He’d been working late. It appeared that Rude had been as well.

“Don’t think so,” he replied, motioning to the coats that still hung on the hooks near the door. Four in total… which meant that Reno was still hanging around the building somewhere, as well. Knowing him, he was probably off playing Halloween pranks on the night shift.

“Hmm… That’s odd. Usually when she stays late, she’s not that difficult to find. I was going to ask her if she’d care for some coffee, since I was heading for the cafeteria anyway.”

Rude shrugged.

“I don’t suppose you’ve seen Reno recently, either?”

“Nope.”

Tseng sighed. “What do you suppose they’re planning now?”

---

Reno stood with his back against one of the larger filing cabinets, ears straining to catch the slightest sound. Elena, too, was on high alert… but all was silent in the Maze. Had they just imagined it? The two Turks had been waiting nearly five minutes and hadn’t heard any further noises.

Reno had just opened is mouth to voice his thoughts to Elena, when a shrill, but muffled melody filled the air. He bit back a cry of surprise and jumped back, looking around for the source, his hand instinctively going for his weapon. Elena, likewise, had followed suit, her gun in her hand, backing away from the sound. Unfortunately for her, the path behind her wasn’t exactly clear. With a surprised shriek, she toppled over an errant rolling chair, landing in a heap on the ground.

“Ah, fucking hell… You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Reno muttered as he very quickly realized that the sound was far from unfamiliar. Feeling utterly foolish, he reached into his jacket and pulled out his PHS, tapping the screen as he did so. The sound stopped.

“Yeah, boss? You need somethin’?” he said into the handset.

‘Reno? Where are you?’ Tseng’s voice, tiny over the small device, inquired.

“Just havin’ a little fun,” Reno replied.

‘Whatever it is you and Elena are up to, just know that I’m ready for it,’ the Turk leader intoned.

“Heh… Little paranoid, eh, Tseng?”

‘Reno…’

“Just FYI, me n’ ‘Lena are doing something much more interesting than plotting against you, boss-man,” Reno said, smirking, then ended the call and turned to Elena, “That ought to worry him a little… uh… You planning on staying down there all night?”

“N-no,” she replied, re-holstering her weapon and picking herself up from the floor. She kicked the offending office furniture viciously. Her heart was still pounding from the sudden rush of adrenaline.

“Geez, ‘Lena… it was just the phone. Don’t act so weak,” Reno said with a roll of his eyes, tucking the PHS back into his pocket.

“Yeah… well… It scared you, too,” she countered.

“True. But I didn’t trip over a chair, scream like a little girl, and fall flat on my ass,” Reno snickered. Elena punched him in the arm.

“Ow!”

---

“It’s been hours, and nothing,” Tseng said, more to himself than to Rude, “What could they be…”

As if on cue, his PHS rang, shaking him from his thoughts. He pulled it from his jacket pocket and glanced at the screen, humming in curiosity when he saw the number.

“Tseng here,” he said. Rude glanced over at him, curious who would be calling on the Turks so late. ‘Rufus,’ Tseng mouthed in reply interpreting the other man’s gaze. Rude raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, sir… Yes… Oh, really?… I see,” Tseng said into the phone… his voice sounded almost amused. “Yes, sir, Rude and I will be waiting.”

“What’s up?” Rude asked. Requests from Rufus Shinra were always interesting, to say the least.

“I’ll tell you on the way,” he replied, cryptically.

---

“Ha… Midnight, and still no ghost,” said Reno, looking smug, “I knew it was all bullshit.”

Elena stifled a yawn.

“So can we go home already?”

“Giving up so soon?”

“Reno… this is boring,” she replied. And it was true… The initial novelty of being someplace that they weren’t supposed to be had long since worn off, and even their earlier scare, which had at least netted them a hearty laugh, was becoming a distant memory. The truth was that this was just a vacant floor. Aside from the somewhat disturbingly claustrophobic sensation of being isolated within the winding paths formed by the shelves and cases, it just… wasn’t scary anymore.

“… Yeah, I know,” he finally relented, “Guess tonight was kind of a bust, huh?”

Overhead, one of the florescent tubes flickered and then went out with a soft clink.

“Hell, maybe we ought to go before we’re stuck wandering around in the dark trying to find the damn elevator until morning,” he chuckled, “Wanna hit someplace up for a super late dinner and head home?”

Elena nodded.

“So… I hate to say it, but, uh… Any idea which way is outta here?” he asked.

“Real funny, Reno,” she replied.

“Actually, I was bein’ serious for once…” he said, laughing lightly, “I have no idea which direction we came from at this point.”

Elena rolled her eyes. Of course, she supposed that it really shouldn’t surprise her. Reno, after all, had once managed to get them lost in a forest during their mandated ‘punishment’ on a small island north of Midgar… and that time he’d had a map and compass, for crying out loud!

She turned 180 degrees and started off down the corridor… only to stop after a few dozen steps. This didn’t seem quite right.

“Um…”

She turned back and took the path in opposite direction. Next to her, she heard Reno snickering.

“Ok, fine!” she shouted, “So I don’t know where we are, either!”

“Not a problem,” said Reno, “Just need a better vantage point…”

He turned to one of the studier-looking shelving units and began to climb the empty shelves. Though they stretched from floor to ceiling, they were open on both sides. It took some peering this way and that once he was high enough, trying to see around the other units, but eventually he spotted what he was looking for.

“Ha… That-a-way,” he said triumphantly, pointing towards the opening to the hallway that led back to the elevator. Unfortunately, as he did so, he felt the shelves beginning to tip.

“Of course…” he groaned, knowing exactly what was coming next, ” ‘Lena! Heads up!”

“Reno!” Elena shouted in alarm as she dove out of the way. The shelves came down with a series of crashes, sending up a cloud of dust as they hit the floor. The redhead, not having time to remove himself from harm’s way, did his best to shield himself. Not that it was going to do him much good… if he ended up under this thing, it was gonna do some damage.

Thankfully, luck seemed to have decided to cut him a break just this once. Reno slammed into the floor hard, landing flat on his back and cracking his head against the hard tile. The shelves, however, landed on top of a nearby desk, leaving him some space underneath.

“Reno?! A-are you okay?” Elena asked, coughing in the dust cloud.

“Ow.” He rubbed the lump that was forming on the back of his head.

“Reno?”

“Why is it whenever you’re around someone or something nearly kills me?” he replied, sounding somewhat strained.

“Are you hurt?” Elena asked.

“Nah… I’m fine.”

Elena quickly climbed to her feet, and brushed herself off… but as she moved to help her fellow Turk, the entire 14th floor was suddenly plunged into darkness.

“Oh, wonderful…” Reno commented from the floor.

“What’s going on?” Elena asked, concern mounting. She couldn’t see a thing. There was no light at all.

“Tch… no one’s turned the lights on up here in almost 10 years. Probably tripped a breaker or something,” he said, “Dammit!”

“Now what?”

“Lost my flashlight,” he replied, patting his pockets. He heard Elena moving toward him in the darkness.

“Ahhh!” she suddenly cried out, and Reno heard a loud thud about a few feet away from him.

” ‘Lena?!”

“S-sorry… I tripped.”

Some shuffling as she got to her feet, and then…

“Ow! Watch where you’re stepping!” he shouted, pulling his hand back from underneath her foot.

“Sorry!”

She moved closer to him… and subsequently kicked him in the thigh.

“Ow! Dammit, Elena!” he growled, finally managing to haul himself out from under the shelves and clambering to his feet.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry…” she muttered.

Reno felt her fingers latch onto his arm, tight.

“Damn, ‘Lena… let go. Ya don’t have to cut off the circulation.”

“Huh? Let go of what?”

“My arm,” he replied, suddenly realizing that Elena’s voice had come from the opposite side as the fingers that were locked around his wrist. He instinctively jerked away, free hand flipping his mag-rod out. Electricity crackled from its tip as he swung at whatever the hell it was that had hold of him. In the miniscule light that resulted, he could have sworn he saw a pair of glittering red eyes staring at him, but they seemed to vanish the moment he spotted them, and the grip on his wrist was quickly relinquished.

“Reno! What the hell are you doing?” Elena shouted.

“Fuck… There is someone else up here!” he ground out. He’d dismissed the sound they’d heard earlier… especially after Tseng had given them both that little scare by deciding to call them at the worst possible moment. He figured it was just something they’d knocked loose on their way in and left it at that. Now he was pretty sure that wasn’t the case.

Reno didn’t like this. He couldn’t see an inch in front of his face. He had only a vague idea of which way was out. And now, on top of all that, he had to deal with a potential threat.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” he said in hushed tones to Elena. Trying to stand their ground and fight under these conditions was insanity.

“Right behind you,” Elena replied. Reno started to move in what he hoped was the direction of the elevator. Elena stayed close. From a distance, the pair suddenly heard what sounded like muffled crying. It was faint at first, but gradually became louder and more distinct… and then, a scream. A scream like nothing either of them had ever heard. Reno felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as a chill ran down his spine.

“Reno… What the hell was that?”

“Keep moving,” he hissed. He was sweating, now, and didn’t even know why. He’d been in situations much worse than this before, but something about this just felt so very wrong. All he knew for sure was that he and Elena needed to get out of there. Now.

It was just about that time that he heard the footsteps.

Reno stopped in mid-stride, listening. It wasn’t hard to pick out two sets of footsteps behind him. One was Elena, obviously. Which meant the other was…

“Oof!”

Elena, who had been hurrying to keep up with Reno’s longer stride slammed into him from behind. Reacting quickly, Reno spun, grabbed her by the arm, and felt his way to the nearest corner, pulling her along with him. Thankfully, Elena seemed to understand, and kept silent. The two Turks stayed there, hardly daring to breath, as the footsteps carried on past them.

“Now what?” Elena whispered, once she was certain their mystery guest was out of earshot.

Frankly, Reno wasn’t sure. They couldn’t see, they couldn’t be sure where the person who’d been following them had gone, and they had only a vague idea of which direction they needed to be moving in.

Reno opened his mouth to reply, but didn’t get the chance as laughter filled the air. It began as a deep, throaty chuckle, but soon escalated into coldly gleeful hysterics. It seemed to be coming from all around them, growing louder and louder until the entire 14th floor seemed to vibrate with it. The shelves rattled, and odds and ends toppled to the floor.

“Run!”

The Turks bolted, hoping that they weren’t far from the elevator doors. Elena could feel something clawing at her jacket. Suddenly, a narrow slit of light appeared out of the darkness, slowly widening.

“The elevator!” Elena gasped, half out of breath. She and Reno sprinted the last few yards, and practically threw themselves through the doors, nearly trampling the car’s occupants to the ground. As the doors slid closed, Elena could swear she saw glowing red eyes watching them from the darkness beyond…

The elevator began to descend, and she was suddenly being lifted bodily to her feet.

“Are you alright?”

“Y-yes… I think so,” she replied, though she was still out of breath, “Oh! Sir, it’s you!”

Tseng… and when she glanced in the other direction, she realized that Rude was there as well. Tseng nodded curtly, and glanced over at Reno, frowning.

“What in Leviathan’s name were you two thinking? Didn’t I tell you that the 14th floor was sealed off for a reason?”

“What… the hell… was that?” Reno panted. By now, he was using Rude to pull himself off the floor.

“That was the reason,” Tseng said simply. Finally, the elevator reached its destination, and the Turks disembarked.

“This is some kind of fucked up Halloween trick, right?” Reno asserted, still not willing to admit that just maybe there really were such things as ghosts. He narrowed his eyes at the Turk leader, “How’d you know we were up there, any way?”

“Reno, not everyone is as obsessed with Halloween mischief as you are. As for your whereabouts… It was Rufus,” Tseng replied, “I’m afraid he ratted you out, and told me about the ‘favor’ you did for him. Speaking of which, you and I are going to have a little chat Monday morning about the appropriate use of company video equipment…”

Elena glanced suspiciously at Reno.

“Just what was the favor, anyway,” she asked.

“Trust me. You’re better off not knowing,” Tseng replied. Reno simply grinned, but it quickly faded.

“So… wait. If this wasn’t something you two came up with, then what…”

“Maybe next time, when I tell you that my ghost story really happened, you’ll believe me,” the Turk leader intoned.

---

It took a several more minutes, but eventually, Tseng and Rude convinced their overly-curious compatriots to head home for the night. Tseng was certain that the evening’s events would have some very interesting effects on their dreams that night.

The elevator doors had barely closed behind Reno and Elena when the second car began to descend… from the 14th floor. Tseng turned toward the doors and Rude strode over as well. The doors silently slid open.

“I trust you enjoyed yourself, sir?” Tseng asked.

“Hmm… well, aside from very nearly being on the receiving end of that blasted weapon of Reno’s… I think it went quite well,” Rufus said, smirking slightly. He handed Tseng a pair of night-vision goggles. “Return these to the weapons department for me, will you?”

“Certainly,” Tseng replied.

“Oh… and tell Reno that should he ever so much as think about tampering with my private washroom again, I’m ordering him to do reconnaissance on 14… alone.”

-fin-