Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 86: The Bearer of Bad News

Tseng arched an eyebrow in his protege’s general direction, but didn’t ask him to elaborate as they were ushered into Veld’s office by the Turk commander. He’d get his answers soon enough.

“Ah… good, you’re back,” Veld said, waving them towards the comfortable chairs by the window, rather than the more utilitarian ones in front of his desk. He sank down into one of them and sighed. “I hope you have some good news for us. The way my day has been going, I could use some…”

“Sir?” Tseng queried. Veld had been in and out of the office most of the afternoon, since his meeting with the Board, so he’d assumed something was up, but he hadn’t yet been asked to assist with whatever the matter may have been. His mentor shook his head dismissively.

“The good news is that the Board, surprisingly, has not requested representatives of each division at the executive party again this year. Unfortunately, what they did request was something far more annoying. But I’ll bring you up to date on that later. We have more important things to discuss.” He turned his attention directly on the redhead, and Tseng settled himself into one of the chairs. Reno did the same, and the senior Turk could almost feel the hesitation coming off of the young redhead.

“Well?” Veld prodded.

“So…” Reno began, running a hand through the spiky locks on top of his head, “I found Kai.”

Tseng didn’t react. He’d already tentatively come to that conclusion when his protege had informed him that his initial assumption about the failure of his effort was “not entirely accurate”. Clearly, however, that wasn’t the whole story.

“Excellent,” Veld declared, rubbing his hands together in front of him. “When can we expect her back?”

The redhead sighed. “Yeah… see, that’s the thing,” he said, awkwardly, as he glanced over at Tseng, “She’s kinda… not comin’ back.”

There was a pervasive silence for several seconds as his words registered.

“What?” Tseng finally managed to spit out, a chill coming over him at the proclamation. He saw the younger Turk cringe slightly in response.

“I tried… I mean, I really tried to talk her out of it. But… she wouldn’t budge,” he explained, and then turned his gaze on Veld, “She said to tell you to expect her formal resignation sometime after the holidays.”

Veld frowned deeply and leaned forward in his chair. “Where is she now?”

“Little nothin’ town, south of Fort Condor. Locals call it Ferryport. It’s literally like… five buildings and a dock.”

The Turk leader nodded slightly. “I’m… passingly familiar with it,” he said, and paused a moment in thought. Tseng took the opportunity to ask the question that was now foremost in his mind.

“Did she say why?” he queried, urgently. Perhaps there was still hope of changing her mind. Kai could be obstinate even at the best of times, but her stubbornness had nothing on his own. If he could get a handle on her reasoning, there was a high likelihood that he could talk some sense into her.

“… Yeah,” Reno replied, and Tseng had the distinct impression that he wasn’t entirely comfortable relaying the information. But he needed to know.

“And?” he probed. His protege breathed a heavy sigh.

“She said… she just couldn’t do it anymore,” he began, “I think… me almost gettin’ shot through the heart in Costa del Sol was kinda the last straw for her. She said she can’t watch her family gettin’ hurt ‘n dyin’ anymore. ‘Specially if it’s ’cause of somethin’ she did.” He looked up at the Wutaiian Turk. “I’m really sorry, Boss. I really did try…”

He could have seen the regret in his young protege’s eyes from a mile away. It was, of course, through no fault of the younger Turk that Kai had decided to retreat from what terrified her the most. Kai’s greatest fear in life was being alone again. It was, in his opinion, a little self-fulfilling that she was choosing to isolate herself now rather than see her family be picked off one by one… but he knew why she was doing it.

She’d tried to walk away once before, too, as far as that went… and that time he had managed to quell the desire before it went any farther than a quietly voiced possibility. It was early in her career as a Turk, and shortly after her mentor had been killed in action. It had hit her hard, and she’d expressed much the same sentiment back then. He and Alyssa had gone to great lengths to convince her that staying was the better option.

But Alyssa was gone now. So many of their little family were gone now. He wasn’t so sure that he could make that argument a second time with the same result. And… maybe it was kinder not to make the attempt. Being a Turk required sacrifice, and Kai had already sacrificed a great deal in her years with the Company. The job took its toll on everyone, eventually… and sometimes, it brought you to your knees so thoroughly it felt as though you’d never walk again.

Tseng looked over at his protege, who was staring back at him, a guilty expression on his face. The senior Turk shook his head.

“I know you did,” he said, simply, before turning his gaze back on Veld. “I’m going down there to speak to her myself.”

It may have been kinder to let her do as she pleased… but it wouldn’t have been right. Kai was a Turk. She’d always be a Turk. It wasn’t something a person could just stop being. Even Ashland, in his retirement and desire to be left to his own devices with his children and grandchildren, was still a Turk at heart. If Veld ever called on him again… he’d answer that call, even if was the last thing he wanted to do. Kai was the same… even if she currently believed otherwise.

So was he. He’d learned that when he’d considered leaving. In the end… he hadn’t been able to do it. He hadn’t been able to leave his family behind.

“I had a feeling you were going to say that,” Veld said with a slight smirk. “But it’s going to have to wait. I need you. That request I mentioned? The Executive Board has decided that the General Affairs Department is due for an audit in the new year. That, of course, includes us.”

Tseng groaned. The last time the department had been audited had been years ago. He’d hadn’t even yet fully grown into his promotion to full Turk at the time… but he still clearly remembered how harried both his mentor and Veld’s predecessor had been for those few weeks.

“Yes, that was largely my reaction as well…” Veld sighed.

“Um… what’s an audit?” the redhead asked, with a hint of confusion. Tseng smiled faintly and shook his head. He still occasionally tended to forget that Reno was, for all his intelligence and street smarts, probably the least educated member of the team, in terms of formal schooling… and though his vocabulary had expanded considerably over the past few years, there were still terms they stumbled upon that he didn’t recognize simply because he’d never encountered them previously.

“It’s an official inspection of financial accounts,” Tseng replied, “to ensure that our allocated budget is being spent responsibly and reasonably.”

“In other words… if we don’t want our budget cut again next year, we’re going to have to justify every last expense report we’ve turned in this past year,” Veld grumbled, “Heidegger has ordered a report from every supervisor in the department to be turned in a week after we return from the holiday break… including myself.”

So much for seeking out Kai immediately. It would, unfortunately, as his mentor had said, have to wait… at the very least until the weekend when he was once again on his own time.

“Anything I can do to help?” Reno asked.

“Yes, as a matter of fact. Take over for me again on the training schedule for the rest of the week,” Tseng answered, “I have a feeling I’m going to be otherwise occupied.”

“You can go and see to your duties,” Veld added, nodding to the redhead, “Tseng… if you’ll stay a moment longer?”

“Yes, sir,” he replied, as Reno was getting to his feet to take his leave, “And Reno… if you have some spare time, see if you can find me a ride to Ferryport immediately after hours on Friday.”

“On it, Boss,” his protege eagerly answered before darting out of the office, the door closing in his wake. Veld chuckled softly as soon as they were alone.

“Does that kid ever run out of enthusiasm?”

“It’s… a rare occurrence,” Tseng admitted, laughing softly himself. Veld quickly sobered, however.

“You may not be able to convince her, you know,” he said.

“Yes… I know. But I have to try, if only for my own peace of mind,” the Turk lieutenant replied, “I don’t for one moment believe that this is what she really wants. I need to give her the opportunity to reconsider.”

Veld pressed his fingertips together, eyeing his protege for several long seconds. Eventually, he nodded.

“Do what you can,” he said, “But Tseng… don’t go down there with the expectation that everything will work itself out the way you’re envisioning it. You know as well as I do – probably even better than I do – where her mind is at. Be prepared for the possibility that she simply isn’t going to come back. Everyone has their breaking point… and Kai may not be willing to risk reaching hers again.”

He gave Tseng a pointed look, and the younger man didn’t have to wonder what he was referring to. No one who knew Kai would have had to wonder about that. And knowing that, Tseng was forced to accept that Veld may very well have been right.

---

Reno breathed a quiet sigh of relief as soon as he was out in the hallway, and leaned back against the now-closed door to Veld’s office. That had certainly gone better than he’d been imagining. Of course… a part of that was due to the fact that his mentor seemed confident that he could change Kai’s mind about leaving.

And maybe he could. After all, Tseng knew Kai better than probably anyone on the team. But Reno had walked away from their last conversation pretty certain that Kai wasn’t going to budge on this one, and he wasn’t so sure that even Tseng could alter that fact.

But for the time being, he had other things to concern himself with. For one… finding someone willing to take his mentor out into the middle of nowhere on Friday. For another… he needed to take a look at the training schedule for the rest of the week and see what he could cover himself and what he’d have to enlist help for if Tseng wasn’t able to take his scheduled sessions due to this “audit” thing.

That thought in mind, he pushed himself upright and made the short walk down the hall to his own office and walked inside, shutting the door behind him. He’d barely even had time to sit down at his desk, however, when someone knocked.

“Yeah? Come on in…” he called out. It opened, and a moment later, the redhead found his office suddenly flooded with both rookies and Turks as literally the entire team, with the exception of Petra, pushed their way inside. Reno blinked in surprise. “Uhhh… ya need somethin’?”

As everyone began to talk at once, Remy stepped forward and shot the younger Turks an annoyed glare, silencing them. She then turned to the redhead.

“You know how quickly gossip spreads around here,” she said, “The moment you set foot in headquarters, everyone knew you were back. They were just waiting for you to finish giving your report to Veld.”

Reno smirked at Rude, who was hanging near the back of the group, looking for all appearances, utterly innocent.

“Surprised no one was listenin’ at the door,” he teased. Rude mirrored his smirk and shrugged.

“Door’s too thick,” he said, simply.

Reno eyed Liam and Ryu.

“Thought you two had materia practice scheduled downstairs…”

Ryu rolled his eyes and looked accusingly over at Liam.

“We did,” he replied, clearly irritated at missing out on the time in the VR room. Liam ignored the comment.

“So? Did you find her?” he asked. Reno sighed heavily and leaned forward, elbows resting on top of his desk.

“… Well, that never means good news is forthcoming…” Remy commented, and he looked up at her, curiously. She nodded towards him. “Tseng always does that, as well… whenever he has something to tell me that I’m not going to want to hear.”

Reno blinked and then shifted his gaze towards his own hands, only then realizing that he’d instinctively adopted the same posture his mentor always took for more serious discussions. Elbows on top of the desk, fingers steepled before him, as he planned out what he was going to say.

He quickly dropped the stance and looked over at the rookies and senior Turks assembled before him.

“I… did find her,” he began, and several of the rookies grinned widely. The redhead mentally groaned. “Um… don’t… ya know… get too excited just yet.”

“What happened?” Rude asked. Reno debated a moment as to whether or not it was his place to explain things to everyone, rather than just giving his report to Veld and letting the Turk commander handle it… but judging by the looks on their faces, he wasn’t going to get out of an explanation so easily. Everyone was eager for news, and he was the man with the information.

“Tch… fine. But if Veld gets ticked at me for oversteppin’ I’m blamin’ it on you guys harassin’ me,” he said, only half serious. “Kai’s… Kai says she’s leavin’ the Turks.”

If the din from their initial inquiry had been loud, the one that arose following his proclamation was nearly deafening for a brief moment… with all of them asking question after question, many of which he only heard parts of, but all of which were centered on the same topic. What the hell was he talking about?

“Guys…” he began, trying to quell the bombardment of inquiries so that he could start to explain himself, but he was talked over. “Guys!”

When the second attempt failed, Reno rolled his eyes and put his fingers to his lips, blowing a shrill, ear-splitting whistle… which immediately had the desired effect.

“Seriously?” he deadpanned, eyeing them as they quieted, and several had the good sense to look slightly embarrassed. He shook his head. “She said she’s plannin’ on staying where she is ’til spring… and she’s sendin’ Veld her official resignation after the holidays.”

“That… can’t be right…” Remy breathed, shaking her head in denial, brow furrowed.

“I wish it weren’t,” Reno replied, “But now that we know where she is, Tseng’s gonna go talk to her. If anyone can talk her outta this, he can. I gotta find him a ride down there… and then redo the week’s training schedule ’cause Heidegger’s makin’ Veld ‘n the Boss do some kinda audit.”

Remy gave a soft huff and and then with a decisive nod, she began corralling the others.

“Come on… everyone out. Let’s leave Reno alone. He has things to do, and it’s almost the end of the day, so I’m sure he’s tired and would like to get them taken care of.”

With only a small amount of grumbling protest, most of them complied with the senior Turk’s request. Rude, however, lingered a moment.

“Beers at five?”

“Fuck, yes,” Reno breathed. His friend smirked and turned on his heel, joining the mass exodus from the redhead’s office. Shortly after they were gone, a new figure appeared in the doorway.

“I see everyone was eager to hear the outcome of your assignment,” Tseng commented with the hint of a laugh. He stepped inside, shutting the door behind him, and took a seat in front of his protege’s desk.

“Heh, yeah… Can’t really blame ’em.” He sighed softly. “Wish I’d’ve had better news…”

“Don’t beat yourself up. We’ll see if I have more luck on Friday,” Tseng replied, “Kai has always been headstrong… and she may very well believe that this is for the best. But I don’t think it’s what she truly wants.”

“Tch… well, at least ya don’t have to worry ’bout tellin’ the rest of the team now…” Reno said, with a quiet laugh.

“Mmm… yes, that is a distinct bonus of having you available to stand in for me on occasion. You’re quite good at breaking bad news. I doubt I’ll even have to inform Petra. Liam and Sykes will almost certainly have taken care of it before I see her next.”

“Where is Petra, anyway? Last minute assignment?” the younger Turk asked. Tseng chuckled.

“I’m not entirely certain you’ll believe me…” he answered, teasingly. The redhead cocked and eyebrow in curiosity.

“Why? Where is she?”

“Acting as the vice president’s personal escort,” his mentor informed him. Reno’s jaw dropped slightly, and for several seconds he was pretty sure he was doing an absolutely fantastic impression of a fish.

“… I… wait. What?!” he stammered. “Since when does the Brat let anyone ‘sides you or me on his security detail?”

Tseng smiled widely. “I have to admit… I was just as shocked as you are. It seems Rufus is making an effort at branching out a bit. I’m not entirely sure just what prompted it… but I have to say I approve wholeheartedly. The more people he has that he is willing to trust, the better. Particularly since our current arrangement isn’t maintainable indefinitely.”

“Say what?” the redhead asked, confused. Tseng shook his head.

“Eventually, I will be heading the team. There’s a reason Veld is seldom tapped for a simple security escort assignment. He has far too many other responsibilities. And you will be filling my current role, which you’re already beginning to see can be quite time consuming in and of itself. We cannot remain Rufus’ sole acceptable security detail forever. There will be times when we’re simply not available.”

Reno leaned back in his seat. With all the other stuff that was being tossed into his lap lately, he somehow hadn’t even considered that… but now that he was, he realized that Tseng was absolutely right. He was practically Rufus’ default nowadays… and before that, well… Rufus hadn’t really beenvice president for very long prior to the war with Wutai, so his security hadn’t been quite so involved. Tseng had managed it on his own for the most part, back then, but now? There was just no way.

“Tch… just when I think I’m startin’ to get a handle on this second in command shit…” he muttered. Tseng chuckled softly.

“You’ll get there. We have plenty of time for that. For now, though, is there anything more you can tell me about Kai? Where has she been staying? What has she been doing all this time?”

Reno sat up slightly and folded his hands behind his head, looking up at the ceiling. “Well… She didn’t tell me exactly where she’s stayin’. One of the islands nearby, apparently. But she comes into town ‘n hangs out at the local bar. Picks up work there, too. She’s doin’ the whole merc for hire thing.”

“I suppose I really shouldn’t be surprised,” Tseng commented, “It’s what she was doing when she was first recruited, after all,” He sat for a moment in thought, and finally nodded, more to himself than to Reno. “Alright. See what you can do to get me down there in a timely manner on Friday. In the meantime…” He paused and sighed heavily. “I have to go start pulling archived expense reports…”

Reno snickered, a faint grin spreading over his face. “Better you than me, Boss.”

“Hmph… Don’t get too cocky about that,” Tseng somewhat teasingly cautioned him, as he stood up and made his way to the door, “Your time to suffer will come. This is hardly the last audit that will ever be conducted and I fully intend that the next time it comes up, you will join me in my misery, justifying our excess expenses.” He got to his feet and headed for the door… but before he exited, he turned back to the redhead, “Ah… I nearly forgot. Speaking of excess expenses I’m eventually going to have to justify… your new PHS should be here tomorrow morning.”

---

Reno groaned, rolling his shoulders slightly in an effort to work out the tension, and then reached for the bottle that had been placed directly in front of him. The bar hadn’t been especially busy when they’d arrived, but by now, the after work crowd had filtered in and taken up residence at their usual tables. He took a long sip of the beer, letting the familiar taste relax him.

A moment later, he heard quiet snickering beside him.

“What?” he asked, side-eyeing his friend. Rude shook his head.

“Nothing.”

“Seriously… What?”

“I can just tell that you’ve had a long day, that’s all,” said Rude. Reno turned to look at him full on, silently asking him to elaborate. “You’re taking your time with that,” the bald Turk said, nodding to his drink. “Usually, you just down the first three. Plus, it’s the good stuff.”

“Tch… We gotta work tomorrow, remember? If I gotta cut myself off before I’m blackout drunk, I’m at least gonna enjoy what I do get to drink…” he said, dismissively… and then snickered, “… ‘Sides… this ain’t even the good shit. It’s just the mid-tier shit. More than a couple steps up from the I’m broke but still thirsty shit, but definitely not the good shit. If it’d really been that long a day, I’da splurged on an Ultima.”

Rude laughed softly and took a sip from his own bottle.

“So how’s your Christmas shopping coming?” he asked, conversationally, and Reno shrugged.

“Done,” he replied, “Hell, I finished over a week ago. Why? You still looking for somethin’?”

“Hmph… Yeah. For you. I never know what to get you. You never tell me what you want,” he chuckled, reaching for the bowl of bar peanuts a short distance away from him, and dragging it over to set it in between the two of them.

“Oh, please… I’m like the easiest person on the fuckin’ planet to shop for,” the redhead laughed. “I like anything.”

Rude snorted. “Yeah… and therein lies the problem.”

“You’re literally the last person that needs to worry ’bout gettin’ me somethin’, ya know,” he replied, smiling slightly as he took another drink. “After all the shit you’ve done for me? I think I owe ya somethin’ like eight Christmases worth of presents this year.” The redhead closed his eyes and let the cold liquid flow down his throat for a few seconds before continuing. “Heh… ‘sides… All I really want is to be able to spend the day with my family, anyway.”

His friend snickered loudly and wrapped an arm around the younger man.

“You’re the sappiest loser on the planet, Reno,” he teased, and the redhead couldn’t help but join in the laughter.

“Yeah… I know,” he agreed. “But I mean it, Rude. That’s the best part of the holidays. I actually got people who give a crap about me. I mean… it’s not like Lira doesn’t, but… ya know. It’s not just me ‘n her now, like it was before the Turks.” He sighed faintly and grabbed a handful of peanuts. “Just wish Kai was gonna be there, too…”

“You ask her to come?”

“Tch… ‘course I did. She said she’d ‘think about it‘. Pretty sure she wasn’t gonna think too hard, though. I’m guessin’ she’s assuming that we’d all try ‘n talk her outta leavin’. Which… to be fair, we all totally would,” he answered.

“Hmph… then that means she’s worried that we might talk her out of it,” Rude pointed out. “If she’s not completely sure about this, at least that gives Tseng a fighting chance.”

“Ya know… I keep wonderin’ if I gave up too quick. Maybe if I’d kept at it I coulda worn her down…”

Rude smirked knowingly. “And if you’d done that, you’d’ve just felt bad for guilt tripping her into reconsidering,” he said, elbowing him in the ribs. The redhead smiled slightly and shook his head.

“Yeah, you definitely know me too well at this point, Partner,” he laughed.

“It’ll work out,” Rude reassured him.

“Yeah… Hope so,” said Reno. Rude reached over and ruffled his hair, drawing an annoyed glare from the younger Turk.

“One way or another, it always works out.”

The redhead redhead rolled his eyes. “Rude… did you down a couple extra shots when I wasn’t lookin’? ‘Cause if I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were already half drunk ‘n goin’ all philosophical on me…” he teased.

“Shut up,” the older Turk laughed.

---

Rufus stared silently into a glass of red wine, quietly seething as he tried to ignore the prattling of his father’s latest trophy girlfriend. It irked him to no end that his father insisted upon gallivanting about with gold diggers like her in the first place… but this one was young enough to be his daughter. For Ramuh’s sake, the “woman” was a year younger than Rufuswas! The thought put a distinct damper on his appetite.

And to make things worse, he was expected to be polite to her. She’d be here for the holidays, as well, of course. They always stayed for the holidays – or, more accurately, for the gifts – even when they were planning on breaking it off… which, Rufus was fairly certain, this one was. There had been a rather nasty gossip piece in one of the more popular tabloid rags last week putting her on blast for the massive age gap between the two of them. His father, as usual, ignored it. The girl… well, a gold digger she may have been, but Rufus didn’t think she had the stomach for the sort of scrutiny the Shinra family was under when they were out in public.

He gave until the week after New Years… at the most.

And the most irritating part was that, if he’d come home with someone like that hanging off his arm, his father would have thrown a absolute fit. As much as he wanted Rufus to hurry up and continue the family line, he had informed his son in no uncertain terms that any potential match would have to be up to standards. His father could carry on with any whore in a forty mile radius… but Rufus was expected to find himself someone of breeding and class. Not that he had any particular inclination towards rentgirls and gold diggers… but the blatant hypocrisy annoyed the younger Shinra to no end.

Frankly, he didn’t much care for what the “upper class” Midgar had to offer, either, though. The true aristocrats of the city put far too much emphasis on image, and none on substance… and the members of new-money elite were largely idiots with no culture to spread between them. There was, of course, the odd exception to the rule every now and then… but those shining few had about as much interest in marriage for marriage’s sake as Rufus did. Or were already spoken for.

His father’s girlfriend – he had pointedly refused to bother learning this one’s name, even though he was certain he been told what it was multiple times by now – laughed in her loud, high-pitched, endlessly obnoxious way, and Rufus cringed, willing dinner to be over quickly. It seemed someone had heard his silent prayer, because the cook chose that precise moment to serve the first course. Rufus breathed a quiet sigh of relief at, at least, having something else to occupy himself with. Dinner tonight was one of his favorites. Char-broiled ribeye with a shrimp and snow pea salad… his preferred variation on surf and turf.

If only the company tonight was as pleasant as the food.

Rufus rolled his eyes as the woman made a spectacle of cutting into her steak, and squealing at the pinkish hue inside before sending it back and demanding it be “fully cooked”. He groaned faintly at the thought of ruining a perfectly prepared cut of meat… She was one of those absolute plebeians who thought that unless meat was cooked until it was gray and flavorless, it wasn’t “done”. Still, he said nothing, intent upon enjoying his own meal tonight, and let his father carry the conversation… which he was only half-listening to by that point.

He would much rather have been dining with Tseng. The Turk lieutenant was more than capable of holding an intelligent conversation, and, moreover, listened to what the Shinra heir had to say on any given subject. At the moment, he would almost go as far as to say that he’d prefer the Slum Rat over his father’s latest consort… which showed how truly desperate he was. Eating with that uncouth moron was decidedly unappealing… though at least when he opened his food-filled mouth, it wasn’t to say something utterly inane. As far as that went, he would even take that recently promoted young woman over his father’s choice in dining companion. Petra was… perhaps a bit of an oddball with her talk of energies and balance, but she was at least interesting.

And quite tenacious, from what he’d seen of her. If nothing else, she didn’t cower in his presence the way some of her less experienced cohorts did. That alone was enough of a reason to give her the opportunity to prove herself… which was why he’d recruited her as his security detail that afternoon. The Slum Rat had never been particularly intimidated by him, either… and he’d come to the conclusion that that was the deciding quality in determining who amongst the Turks would potentially be the most valuable to him.

Now, she just had to show him what she was made of.

~end chapter 86~