Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 43: Ghosts of the Past

Reno was far, far too comfortable. Snuggled down in the warmth of the sheets, with the even more pleasant warmth of a body pressed against his, he really had no desire whatsoever to open his eyes just yet.

The day, however, seemed to have had other ideas.

A shrill squeal cut through the peaceful morning, wrenching him – along with his bedmate – from his doze. Remy sat up blearily, looking around, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound, before finally swearing under her breath.

“The fuck’s goin’ on?” Reno asked, yawning as he rubbed his eyes. Remy was already out of bed and pulling on the nearest items of clothing she could find.

“It’s the building’s fire alarm,” she said, sounding thoroughly annoyed. “This is the fourth time this week!”

Reno groaned and rolled towards the edge of the bed, dragging himself upright.

“Tch… Who the fuck keeps settin’ your building on fire?”

Remy paused just long enough to roll her eyes. “They’ve all been false alarms, thus far. But it’s hardly something you want to take a chance with…”

“… Might be worth it if it means sleepin’ in…” he muttered, but got up anyway, stretching his arms over his head. He grabbed for his pants and pulled them on, foregoing everything else. Summer was already making itself known in Midgar. It’s not as if he’d freeze to death. He sleepily trailed Remy out into the hallway where they joined a procession of other grumbling building residents already making their way towards the stairways. One woman… an older lady in a red bathrobe and house slippers… eyed the pair of Turks as they emerged from the apartment and merged into the current, a disapproving sneer etched firmly on her face. “The fuck’s her problem?” Reno asked.

Remy glanced back over her shoulder, and sighed, shaking her head.

“That’s Mrs. Rozinski. Just ignore her. She’s a nosy old woman, with far too much time on her hands,” Remy replied, a little louder than necessary. Reno plainly heard the woman behind him hrumph in contempt. He ignored it with a shrug and followed Remy down the stairs and out into the parking lot.

As they stood there, waiting for the all-clear, he snickered softly.

“What?” Remy asked, glancing up at him.

“That’s my shirt you’re wearin’, ya know…”

Remy blinked and looked down at her attire… apparently only then realizing that it was about two sizes too big on her. “I suppose it’s just as well,” she replied, shaking her head, “I… couldn’t find anything to put on underneath.”

“Oh, really,” the redhead teased, suggestively, before wrapping an arm around his lover. Remy rolled her eyes.

“Don’t go getting any bright ideas.”

Reno smirked, and leaned down slightly. “Ya know… my car’s right over there,” he said, nodding in the direction of where he’d parked last night. “The back seat’s –”

“What did I just say?” his fellow Turk cut him off, but laughed quietly, shaking her head. She sighed, laughing again. “I don’t even know why I bother… Every other thought that passes through your mind is about sex.”

“Hmph!”

The disapproving snort came from somewhere behind them, and Reno turned… only to find the same old lady from upstairs openly glowering at them.

“Seriously… what the hell’s her problem?” he asked dropping his voice.

“She needs to mind her own Leviathan-be-damned business… That’s her problem,” she muttered in reply. “Who I choose to invite into my apartment to spend the night is no concern of hers.”

The redhead’s face split into a wide grin.

“Ooooh… she’s one of those types…” he snickered. He’d had a neighbor like that once, too. Or, rather, Lira had, but as much time has he’d spent in her apartment back then, she might as well have been his neighbor, too… which was actually pretty hilarious, considering half the girls in the building were in the same line of work as Lira was, but for some reason the woman had singled out his friend specifically for her disapproving glares every time they passed one another. “So… someone’s finally callin’ you out on your well-deserved reputation as a loose woman, huh?” he teased. Remy elbowed him, which only made him laugh harder.

“Oh, be quiet.”

Word soon spread through the crowd that it was yet another false alarm, and the building residents, now even more irritated at having been woken up early on a Saturday morning for no reason, began to trickle back inside. Reno and Remy grabbed the first available elevator and rode it upstairs. A few short minutes later, they had collapsed back into bed. Reno nuzzled his check against his lover’s collarbone.

“Heh… ya know what gotta do, now, don’tcha?” he snickered, grinning impishly.

“Go back to sleep for an hour or two?” Remy replied, sighing contentedly at the attention.

“Tch… no. We gotta go out in the living room ‘n have really loud sex. Ya know. Give that nosy neighbor of yours somethin’ to keep her entertained…”

Remy was silent for a moment, before shaking her head. “Don’t antagonize the neighbors.”

“Aww… why not?” Reno lamented, teasingly.

“Because I live here. I don’t need to start a feud of some sort with Mrs. Rozinski,” she replied, before giggling faintly, “Besides… the couple next door has kids. As enjoyable as it might be for us, somehow, I don’t think they’d appreciate that.”

---

He was just walking through the door of his apartment when his PHS rang. Reno grunted softly as he shifted both of the bags of groceries he’d picked up on the way home to one arm, and dug the device out of his pocket.

“Reno here,” he answered, not taking the time to check the caller ID first. The damn bags were heavy, and juggling them like that was a pain in the ass as it was. He staggered his way towards the kitchenette, hardly able to see over the top of his burden and a moment later gratefully set the load down on the counter.

“Hey… doing anything this afternoon?” Rude’s voice asked.

“Eh… not really.” He pulled a carton of milk out of one of the bags and tucked it into the fridge, and then started unloading the rest of the food. “Why? What’d you have in mind?”

“Wanna meet someone who knew your mom?”

A can of soup slipped from his hand and hit the floor with a thump. He blinked, trying to process the question.

“W-what?” he stammered.

“I know you didn’t think I’d ever find anything… but…”

“You’re serious?” Reno breathed, feeling his chest tighten slightly at the thought. As far as he’d known, Rude had stopped looking after his birthday. He’d had no idea his friend was still digging for information.

“Yeah. Wanna go?”

“W-wait… what? Like… Right now?” Not that he normally cared… but, frankly, he still looked like he’d just woken up from a long night of general debauchery. He hadn’t even changed out of his uniform from the day before yet. Or showered, for that matter, and he was pretty sure he smelled like sweat, sex, and Remy’s perfume. That… wasn’t quite the first impression he wanted to make on one of his mom’s friends.

Rude snorted softly in laughter.

“You’re just now getting home from a date, aren’t you…?” he snickered.

“… No,” he replied, rolling his eyes. Sometimes his friend knew him a little too well. “… Maybe.”

“You’ve got time. She offered to have us over for lunch. Pick you up in an hour?”

“Uh… y-yeah. Okay,” Reno stammered, still not quite able to believe this was real. Not that he’d scoured the city or anything like that, but he had looked. He hadn’t come across anything relating to his mom Plateside or down in the Slums. Leave it to Rude to pull off a miracle like that.

“See you then,” Rude replied, and the call ended. Reno, somewhat shakily, set the phone down on the countertop.

Someone who’d known his mom? It seemed almost too good to be true… and he wasn’t sure if he ought to have been elated… or terrified. He had an image of his mother in his head from over a decade and a half ago, all from the point of view of a kid. What if it didn’t line up with was this woman told him about her? What if she wasn’t who he remembered? Hell, there were already times when he questioned his memories of her, so many of them were faded and dreamlike by now.

His stomach twisted nervously. What if… he somehow learned that she would have been disappointed in him working for Shinra? For becoming a Turk? For… finding a new family and leaving her behind in Sector 2?

Or, worse, what if she’d told this woman that she regretted having him at all? It wasn’t like his mom had been planning on getting saddled with a kid. He was fairly certain he’d been a complete accident. The result of a profession whose primary risks specifically included unwanted pregnancy. There was no way in hell his mom had been trying to get knocked up when he’d come along. What if this meeting cemented his long-held fear that he really had ruined her life?

Reno swallowed sharply and forced himself to take a breath. He really had to stop doing that. Obsessing over negative possibilities put him into a state of mind where he felt like he was drowning… sometimes literally. It made it feel like he was struggling to breathe normally, and he hated it when he let himself get that worked up. Aside from being slightly terrifying, it reminded him a little too much of the two thoroughly humiliating episodes he’d had when he been given that Ifrit-forsaken pain medicine in the hospital.

He shook his head as he slowly calmed down. No matter what he might learn… he didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t just not go. He might never get another opportunity like this and he’d be kicking himself forever if he missed out. Plus, Rude had to have gone to a hell of a lot of trouble to find her for him. He didn’t want those efforts to be wasted.

Reno made quick work of the remaining groceries, and then hurried into his bedroom to get ready.

---

His normally talkative friend was rather shockingly quiet as Rude pulled out of the parking lot and into traffic. Reno’s gaze was affixed firmly out the passenger side window and he was absently rubbing the back of one hand with his thumb. He reached over and tapped him on the shoulder, and the redhead jumped nearly high enough to smack his head on the ceiling of the truck’s cab. Rude snickered and turned onto the freeway.

“Nervous?”

“Tch… What do I gotta be nervous about? I’m just meetin’ someone who probably knew my mom longer than I did…”

Rude grinned. Yeah… Reno was definitely nervous.

“So… um… who is this lady, anyway?” his friend hesitantly queried.

“Her name is Penny. Penny Trask. Used to be a singer at a nightclub over in Sector 1. Your mom worked there for awhile, too. ‘Til it burned down.”

The redhead turned towards him, brow furrowed. “W-wait… Mom used to work up here on the Plate?” he queried, sounding more than a little shocked. Rude shrugged.

“Worked… and used to live up here, too, apparently. Still not sure how she ended up down below in Two. Penny didn’t know, either. Thinks she might have gotten herself into some kind of trouble and disappeared… but… um… fair warning on that. She’s… a little out there.”

“What’dya mean?”

Rude chuckled softly. “She believes there are evil clones roaming the city and I don’t think she’s physically left her apartment in years for fear of running into one. Her husband worked for Shinra biologics and died in a lab accident a long time ago… which is probably at least partly to blame for her paranoia and the conspiracy theory. She got a pretty big payout from the Company afterwards. Some from the life insurance they have on every employee, and some as part of an agreement that she wouldn’t try to sue them over the accident. Haven’t had time to dig too deep into it, but it sounds like someone was negligent. Three guesses who.”

“Tch… Biologics department? I only need one. Hojo, right?” Reno muttered with a scowl. Rude nodded. “Why the fuck do we keep that asshole around, anyway?”

“His research makes us money. And it’s not all zenenes and poisonous jelly monsters, you know,” Rude replied, with a shrug, “You hear they’re developing a way to heal injuries twice as fast as normal using mako? Could come in handy.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Reno replied, waving a dismissive hand. “He’s still an asshole.”

Rude snorted softly in laughter… but didn’t disagree. He had no great love for the bespectacled scientist, either. Not after the aforementioned incident with the zenenes… or nearly losing his best friend to a sentient lump of goo. But irresponsible in his research or not, the man was undeniably a genius, and many of his inventions and projects had ultimately done a lot of good for both the company and Midgar in general, over the years. Reno was right, though… on a personal level, at least, the man really was an asshole.

“So… anyway… She tell ya anything else ’bout my mom?”

“Hmph… ask her yourself. This is it,” Rude said, nodding towards the condo they were pulling up in front of.

---

“You know… I hear some people do this strange thing on the weekend,” Viridia said, as she stepped behind her lover and rested her hands on his shoulders.

“Mmm? What’s that?” Tseng queried, not looking up.

“They stop working,” she snickered, snatching his phone out of his hand in one fluid motion and hiding it behind her back. The Turk lieutenant stood and spun around to face her, a faint look of surprise on his face.

“You’re hardly one to talk, Lieutenant Commander…” he chuckled, “Remind me… which of us was awake and out of bed at five this morning to check on last night’s incident reports?”

Viridia grinned. “And which of us was out of bed less than thirty seconds later to check his phone for incoming security alerts?”

“Well… you’d already woken me by then. I simply thought I’d make the best of it,” Tseng teased, smiling as he reached for her hand… and his phone. “But… you’re right. It’s the weekend, and we’re both off duty at the same time for once. Which begs the question… what are we going to do today?”

Viridia’s grin widened as she pulled him closer and pressed her lips to his. Tseng only too eagerly returned the affection, letting his hand rise to the back of her head, toying with the precision-cropped hair at the base of her skull. His Viridia truly was a marvel. There weren’t many women out there who would not only tolerate the demands of his job, but also never once take offense when he was forced to put the job before her. It was a rare level of understanding that she likely only possessed because she treated her own chosen career in exactly the same way. They sometimes went weeks at a time without seeing one another… occasionally – though he tried his best to avoid it – without even speaking.

Which made the time they did have to spend together off-duty all the more valuable.

She finally broke the kiss and pulled away, smiling.

“I think we need to get off-base for awhile… before one of my subordinates decides they can’t function without me for a full forty-eight straight,” she replied. “What do you think about a little trip over to Kalm on chocobo-back? And if it gets too late before we’re ready to come back, we’ll just… find a nice hotel room.”

“I think that sounds perfect.”

“Good… Because I already rented the chocobos and the deposit is non-refundable,” Viridia laughed, “If we leave right now, we’ll be in that pretty little spot up in the mountains just in time for a nice picnic lunch.

---

Reno glanced around the dimly lit dining room, and swallowed nervously. He wasn’t even sure where he ought to start. He’d spent the last few minutes, while their hostess had been in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on their lunch, wracking his brain for ideas on what to ask her.

Penny had greeted them in an… interesting… fashion. Once all of the locks had been undone and the pair ushered inside – and then each and every lock relocked behind them – the woman’s whole demeanor had changed. She’d gone from suspicious and hesitant to warm and inviting so quickly that Reno half-wondered if she had multiple personalities. Rude was right… she was definitely a little strange.

His graze drifted to the framed posters and photos on the walls that surrounded the heavy wooden table. Mostly of Penny herself, in her younger days. There were pictures of her performing on stage… advertisements billing upcoming concerts that had happened decades ago… photos of her and a man Reno assumed was her late husband… A veritable timeline of the woman’s life. It looked like she’d had quite a career back in the day. For awhile, at least.

“Relax, will ya?” Rude snickered quietly.

“Tch… Easy for you to say…” the redhead snorted in reply.

“Here we are!” Penny called out cheerfully, and a moment later emerged from the kitchen bearing a tray of sandwiches and side dishes, which she dutifully placed on the table in front of her guests. “Help yourself, and don’t be shy about taking seconds!”

She smiled at the redhead as she settled into a chair across from him and shook her head.

“I just can’t believe how much you look like Aria…”

When Reno didn’t say anything, Rude subtly elbowed him.

“… I-I do?” he finally managed. It was probably the hair. His mother’s had been the same unusually vibrant shade as his, and it was definitely his most memorable feature.

“Oh, absolutely. You’ve got her hair, of course, but that’d be hard not to notice. It’s so much more than that, though. I can really see her in your entire face. Same eyes, same nose, same mischievous little smile… same Shiva-be-damned perfect cheekbones,” she chuckled, “I’m not ashamed to admit, I was always a little jealous of those cheekbones…”

The redhead found himself grinning slightly in response. He’d… never realized that. Well, to be more accurate, it had just never really occurred to him that the family resemblance might go deeper than just hair color… and he suddenly found himself longing for a mirror.

“She was a pretty little thing, alright,” Penny continued, “And that voice of hers…” She chuckled softly. “I was damn good singer, I don’t mind telling you. Could’ve gone a lot farther than I did if I hadn’t talked myself out of it early on and quit just as I was making a name for myself. Your mom, though… she was better. Plain and simple, she was better. It’s too bad she wound up in that sad little excuse for a club, like I did, waiting to be discovered. If the right person had come along… well… she was stuck waiting for the big break that never came, and I was stuck there wishing I hadn’t turned mine down years ago.”

“She… wanted to be a singer?” Reno asked, cocking his head to one side in curiosity.

“More than anything,” Penny replied. “That girl loved to sing. And people loved to listen. She had a talent, that’s for sure. Just… never met the right person to help her get her career off the ground. Doesn’t happen for everyone, after all.”

“… What was she like?” the younger Turk found himself asking. It wasn’t the question he’d intended to ask… but he quickly realized that it was the one he most wanted answered. Penny smiled.

“She was… a real spitfire. She could be the sweetest little thing you’ve ever met… until you ticked her off. Aria was the kind of person who’d trip all over herself to help someone out, and didn’t tolerate anyone mistreating her friends. Nothin’ would set her temper off faster than that. She’d follow the orders our boss barked at us… put up with the customers… did whatever she had to to get by. But if someone went too far with me or one of the other girls at the club? You did not want to be in her line of fire…”

Reno laughed softly. That, at least, he knew had to have been true. He didn’t remember a lot about his mother, but one thing that had never left him was how safe she had always made him feel. No one messed with him when she was around. Not even men twice her size. He very distinctly remembered her putting some asshole slum rat in his place when he’d dared raise a hand to him when he was around four or so. Reno didn’t recall what he’d done to bring the man’s wrath down upon himself, but his mom was having none of it.

“Did… Mom have any family?” he hesitantly queried. He didn’t remember her ever talking about brothers or sisters or even her own parents… so he’d just thought that she didn’t have any family by the time he’d come along. But if he was wrong about her being from the Slums, then maybe… maybe he had other family out there. Somewhere.

“Not as far as she told me,” Penny replied. “Way I understand it, her parents weren’t around, growing up. Dead or just absent… I don’t know. Never went into detail on that. She was raised by her grandfather in Kalm, and when he died, Aria moved herself to Midgar.”

The redhead blinked in surprise. “Mom… was from Kalm?” he repeated, somewhat in shock. All his life, he’d always assumed she must’ve been born in the Slums, like most people that lived down below. When Rude had told him that she used to live topside, he’d been more than a little surprised, but… well, it did sometimes happen. People hit a streak of seriously bad luck and couldn’t afford the cost of living topside anymore. They either left the city… or relocated to the Slums.

But now he was being told that she hadn’t even been born in Midgar.

He wondered where she’d lived when she was little. Had it been one of the houses he himself had walked past any number of times when he’d visited the quiet eastern village? Or maybe one of the cottages on the outskirts? What had happened to her parents? How had she ended up with her grandfather… his great-grandfather? Why did she choose the Slums over going home to Kalm?

Penny smiled understandingly.

“Kind of a lot to take in?” she asked, chuckling softly. Reno nodded mutely, and he felt Rude’s hand squeezing his shoulder. “Why don’t I tell you about some of the things us gals got up to after hours at the club? Your mother was an expert at getting us into all sorts of mischief… and not getting caught in the act.”

---

It was nearing eight P.M. by the time Reno and Rude had finally headed for home. Lunch had eventually turned into dinner. Penny’d had quite a few stories for the redhead… most of which had been fun to hear, and a few that had caught the younger Turk completely off-guard. They’d parted with an invitation for him to drop by again sometime.

Rude prodded him as they were pulling into the parking lot of his apartment complex.

“You look kinda drained,” he commented. Reno sat up slightly and managed a smile.

“That was… weird. Awesome. But weird. Ya know… findin’ out that Mom had this whole life before me that I never knew anything about. I think I’m still processing…”

Rude pulled into a parking space, and Reno glanced out at the darkening skying. The sun had almost set.

“You… uh… wanna come up for a beer? Hang out for awhile?” the redhead asked. His friend smirked slightly.

“That your way of saying you’re not ready to be alone yet?” he replied, nudging him gently in the ribs with an elbow.

“Tch… quit that,” Reno muttered shoving the offending appendage away. “… And… yeah. If you’re not totally sick of me yet, I mean.”

Rude gave a faint snort of amusement and shut off the engine before climbing out of the cab of his truck. Reno grinned and hopped out as well, leading the way into the building. The pair stepped aboard the elevator, riding it upstairs, and the redhead quickly let himself into his apartment, ushering his friend in as well. He turned and shut the door with a quiet sigh.

“Hey… Rude?” he began, turning back to him.

“I know it wasn’t everything you were hoping for…” Rude interjected, shaking his head. “Hmph… think Penny probably raised more questions for you than she answered…”

Reno quickly shook his head. “What? No way… Are you fuckin’ kidding me? I didn’t think you’d find anything. Wasn’t sure there was anything left to find. I mean… yeah, now I’m totally wonderin’ how the fuck Mom ended up in Sector 2… but… I never woulda found out any of that on my own.”

Rude laughed quietly and dragged him in close, hugging him tightly.

“Seriously, man,” Reno added, his voice slightly muffed against the broader Turk’s chest, “You’re the best… I’m never gonna be able to repay ya for this.”

He suddenly found himself being held at arm’s length, with Rude looking directly at him.

“You don’t owe me anything,” he stated, firmly, and then grinned. “Except that beer you already promised me. I am gonna hold you to that.”

~end chapter 43~