Renavatio
I have a series over at FanFiction.Net called Thrice-Blessed about Reno and my OC Rayne. I got some good reviews on it and decided I'd do a sequel, based on the reviews I got at the end. Here's chapter one of Renavatio entitled "Truth".
Title: Renavatio
Author: RenoxRayne
Chapter: 1, Truth
Summary: A month has passed since Reno and Rayne shared that kiss, unfortunately, things are not always as black and white as we wish them to be.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the main character, Rayne. Final Fantasy is a product of Square Enix, while Kingdom Hearts is a joint production of Square Enix and Disney Interactive Studios (Buena Vista Games.)
A city comprised of steel plates and machinery, where the wealthy had lived above and the poor suffered below. Out of sight, out of mind... their wellbeing meant nothing to those who'd lined their pockets with the Gil they were able to squeeze out of them. It hadn't mattered if they could feed themselves and their families, nor if they even woke up from day to day. Life was different for a Midgar citizen than it was for a ShinRa Executive.
Midgar citizens woke up to suffer, ShinRa Executives woke up to see to it that they did.
Despite the time that had passed between Meteor's attack on the Planet. Despite the time that those who'd escaped the tragedy had had to get over the events, the former Mako-fueled city held a haunting air about it. No matter how many times one rode past the mangled chain-link fence, flew over the tangled wreckage, it never seemed to go away.
Midgar was more than just a scar on the Planet, but a wound on the hearts of those who'd lived through the tragedy.
Rayne piloted the helicopter closer, smirking to herself as she noticed the Church in the Sector 5 slums still stood as steady as ever. Sure, there ceased to be a ceiling, the white stone now was more of a moss-ridden gray-green, but it was there none the less causing her to inwardly wonder if the flowers remained as well.
Unfortunately, the wellbeing of flowers wasn't on her agenda today, and so she continued angling her flight path to swoop back through the Playground area and where the Wall Market had once been, her sharpened senses gazing for any form of life that may have been there. People had begun to come up missing, spotted around the Midgar vicinity before disappearing seemingly out of thin air. Of course, such a job would call upon the Turks to come in and investigate before they had their reserve military force come in and sweep through a clean up.
She didn't mind so much the flying anymore, especially once she'd managed to learn to pilot a helicopter of her own. The sickening lurch of her stomach managed to stay at bay, allowing the young Turk to do her job without any problem... or dependence on Reno.
Reno...
Rayne knew it, she was running again and there wasn't anyone who could say anything different. To say she hadn't thought of the kiss they shared would be a blatant lie. To say that it wasn't something that had made her feel the world come alive around her would be false as well.
To say that she didn't feel something for Reno... therein lay the confliction.
There had been something there, a spark the tried to ignite something from the foliage that hid her guarded heart. Whether it had been successful or not, she'd managed to smother the bramble before it anything could come of it. For so long, she had wanted to be loved by another, to have her feelings requited by someone.
No... not someone... Axel.
Her yearning for love had originated with him, and as she had originally thought, died with him as well. But Reno had awakened it as if it'd never slumbered at all, and she had to wonder whether or not it was because she truly had feelings for the red-haired Turk or if it was the remnants of Axel that she found him in.
What's more... did she want to love him? Did she want to tether her soul to a creature as fragile as he? She had been genetically altered, making her a little sharper, a little stronger, a little harder to kill. But Reno... he wasn't even SOLDIER material, just a simple Turk whose life could be ended by a single well placed bullet.
“Sector Seven and Eight are devoid of activity.” Rude's voice called from his own chopper.
“Ditto for One and Two! Reno?” Elena's voice chipped in.
“Nothing of interest in Three or Four.”
His voice sounded so listless through the radio, and Rayne forced herself to blame it on the mechanical device. What machine could accurately relay human emotion anyway? “Five and Six are clear. Shall we take it home Tseng?”
There was a pause on their PDA's before his voice sounded over them. “Return to headquarters. We'll start the search again tomorrow at first light. Rayne, Reeve would like to speak with you in his office when you return.”
She pondered just what it could be about, wondering if perhaps her friendship-because that was all it was ever going to be-with Reno was something frowned on with the company. Turning her chopper toward Edge, she lead the others back in to home.
“I'm going out for drinks, anyone else game?” Reno may have been inviting everyone, but he grey-blue eyes had fallen on Rayne and she turned her head so fast her hair fell in perfect position to hide her face.
“I think I'm going to have an early night after I speak with Reeve,” she began, heading past them into the building. He watched after her, feeling the gazes of Elena and Rude burning his flesh. They knew what was going on in his head, the pain that only his eyes managed to fail at hiding. He forced a nonchalant grin onto his features and waved it off.
“Just one less drink for me to buy.”
- - - - -
Rayne drug her shoes across the polished marble flooring of the World Regenesis Organization halls, the paintings, plaques, and other decorations that hung on the walls blurring at the edges of her visions as she found herself more enraptured within her mind. More and more lately, she had found herself spending her time daydreaming of various scenarios, some realistic some clearly fantasy.
Some days, she was the heroine, proving herself to the people of the Planet that she was more than some genetically engineered freak. Other days, she was a damsel in distress, awaiting her hero. Same red hair, same smug smile... holding their hand out to her she could only make out their silhouette in the bright light. Do you trust me?
Then sometimes, when she was alone in her room, she was just Rayne. Just a normal girl with normal problems, like what to wear, not being late to work, stopping that snag in her hose. Love and her differences held no meaning because they just weren't relevant.
But this was the real world and that was a place her mind had created for her to escape for awhile, when she had no where else to run from those who symbolized all she didn't know how to handle right now.
It couldn't stay like this forever, could it?
The elevator dinged, releasing her into the Director of the WRO's floor. Simple cream colored cushioned benches lined corners, potted plants and oakwood end tables with various newspapers on weapon development, medical journals, and science digests for people awaiting to be met to read. Rayne had never actually had to wait her turn when called up here, always being summoned when he was alone.
The see through glass door opened with little effort from her, and she made her way in, stopping just before his polished black desk, papers strewn haphazardly across it. Of course, she recognized her file sitting atop it all, open, and marked in some scrawl was her medical records. It was beginning to become more and more clear just what it was that possessed him to call her up here.
“Take a seat, please.” She did as was told, letting her eyes travel to whatever she could find within the office, unable to keep them still. She was nervous, and with her uncertainty she felt oddly trapped in the spacious room. He must have sensed this, a polite smile on his stern features. “Relax, this isn't a performance review, your job is safe.”
Yeah... a relief... She thought to herself, not thoroughly sure if she was happy or not. “If you don't mind me asking, what is it that you called me up here for?”
“You were injured...” he began, looking over her file. “A month ago, in a reconnaissance mission inside Wutai, correct?”
Her chestnut brows knitted with momentary confusion as she instantly recalled the situation. “Yes, one of the fiends there took me off guard and caught my side. I was treated here and cleared for duty soon afterward,” she relayed matter-of-factly. He could have confirmed that with her medical records, of that she was sure. It hadn't been any sort of major procedure, simple stitches and they sent her on her way.
“Would you mind if I saw your wound? Please.” Reeve questioned as he stood. Again, the look of questioning came over her face and he stopped for a moment. “For purely medical purposes, I assure you. I have some... concerns that go along with those who were a product of Project G.”
“Oh...” Rayne sighed heavily, standing some as she pulled her shirt up enough to reveal he right ribcage, covered in bandages.
“You're still wearing the bandages?” He sounded surprised, and waved her to put her shirt back down. Sitting back down at the other side of the desk, he began quickly typing something into his computer, giving Rayne half the mind to crane her neck to see.
“Well... yes. They told me to keep it wrapped in clean bandages until the stitches came out on their own. Is there a problem?”
Reeve ran a hand through his thick goatee and looked at her for a long time, and she could almost see the wheels turning in his head trying to decide how to break whatever it was that he had to tell her.
“Whatever it is, just tell me. I promise, I'm a big girl Reeve, I can take it. I've proven to be mentally stable thus far, I don't think I'll be breaking anytime soon.”
“Fair enough.” He said, a small smile forming at her strength. By far, she had proven herself to be the most stable mentally from the separate projects, despite the fact that she was the weakest when it came to physical combat. “You're not going to heal, the wound will continue to steadily get worse--”
“The Degradation process.” She finished for him, her voice sounding hallow in her pointed ears. “It afflicted Genesis and he was given, what, a term of four years before it would kill him?”
Reeve nodded slowly, not at all surprised that she'd done her homework. Granted the first couple times she'd holed up within the Research Department for hours at a time reading over endless journals on cases like hers and what few were actually around her, he was worried her mind would crack as Sephiroth's had. Of all employees, he'd followed her the closest, in a way that far surpassed the spying he had done so long ago with Cait Sith.
He'd given Reno special orders to spy on her.
As the request for him stood even today, he pondered if it was worth it still. She seemed of sound body and mind, and something had changed in Reno since he'd started his watching her.
“So she's safe then, you all aren't going to kill her when I go to sleep tonight or anything?” Reno questioned hopefully, the guilt obvious in his voice. Turk as he was, he still had a heart and submitting a harmless girl to her death was not something he could live with doing. Kidnapping an Ancient, that was something else entirely. She would have been kept alive and just experimented on... this they had been talking about was murder.
“Yes, for now, she is safe,” Reeve consented and Reno's shoulders relaxed. “However... she was kept in suspended animation and she's only been in the world for a short amount of time. The truth seemed detrimental to the sound minds of the products of Project G and Project S. We cannot risk her falling apart in such close quarters. Do you get what I mean?”
He looked at the ground, pondering if his research had all been for naught. He'd presented them with viable information that, in his eyes, would have given her a free ticket to get out of here and do as she wished. Sure, Sephiroth had lost it, Genesis had lost it, and Angeal had... he wasn't sure what had happened to him. And after the incident with the Tsviets... “Yes, sir.”
“Alright then. I've cleared it through Tseng that you are permitted leeway, and to assign her to any assignments you may go on.”
“But Rude is--”
“On vacation for now. Whether he chooses to take it is upon him. For now, she's your responsibility. Do whatever you must to gain her trust and insure you may keep close. She seems like a nice enough girl, and a good asset. Perhaps we can avoid a possible villain in her.”
“Understood.”
Reeve sighed, looking at his screen. He partially felt guilty for having her watched, but he had to worry about the Planet first and whatever soft spots he had later. This... was a bit of both however as he came to a decision. “There may be a way to reverse the effects enough to allow you to heal. But you'll have to spend the night in the Observation Ward to insure it takes.”
Her green eyes glistened as she examined him closely, wondering what exactly was going on in his mind before he spoke again. They'd merely sat in silence for a good measure of time before he had said anything. Yet... if there were some sort of cure for this degradation... “I'm sensing some hesitation in this. What's wrong?”
He put on a happy visage, shaking his head. “I merely worry for your safety,” he began, only half-lying. “Its still a prototype and we haven't had a lot of people its needed to be tested on.”
Rayne wasn't entirely buying it, but if it was a cure-albeit temporary-she'd take it. “I'll take it.”
Punching in a few more things on his keyboard, he sent it off and turned his full attention toward her. “Good. Head to medical, they're expecting you.”
“Thank you, sir,” she bowed politely, turning toward the door.
“Oh, and President ShinRa has allotted his beach house to us for the next week. I'm sending you and Reno there for vacation, as you both have been my hardest working operatives.”
Rayne opened her mouth to protest, but he shook his head, putting his hand up to still her lips. “Its not an offer, its an order. Take some R&R, you both need it.” Returning to his work, he left her nothing more to do than to leave his office and head down to medical. She'd run out of places to hide... especially if he was sending them both to share the beach house in Costa del Sol.
Reeve waited until she was gone before pulling out his cell phone, and sending out a memo. He'd need his cooperation more than anything this time.
- - - - -
Through the roar and activity of Seventh Heaven, Reno felt his cell phone ring. Half tempted to ignore the ring and drown himself in the alcohol, possibly get drunk, make a pass at Tifa, and get thrown out on his head, he waited for another buzz of a ring but realized it stopped at just one. A text. Glancing sideways at Rude and Elena-the former of which was bashfully glancing at Tifa himself-he noted that neither of them had acknowledged any text on their devices. That meant one of two things, spam or personal.
Part of him hoped for the latter.
He'd atoned for condemning the girl he found in Nibelheim to death, even saved her life. He'd kept his word afterwards and did what he could to stay close to her, watch over her, and in turn got to watch her adjust to life as a human being rather than a terrified refugee who'd run away confused and brought herself up. She'd come into her womanhood easily, either through her own mental strength or Jenova's ability to absorb such traits from the lifeforms around her.
He'd watched her, and found himself admiring her more for it.
At first sign of the inklings of feelings toward the elusive woman, he'd brushed them off as getting into character. To becoming the man he needed to be in order for her to confide in him and let her guard down around him. If he could become her emotional dependent, then maybe he could anchor her and keep her from falling like the others. What had been a mission first started becoming a little more than that. He stopped having to protect her and began wanting to. He started to like protecting her and finally it just started becoming an automatic thing.
He found joy in being her hero.
Reno the hero... nice rhyming quality, yet he knew being a Turk when he signed up that he'd never be the hero. That wasn't his place. It was in the shadows, doing the dirty work no one else wanted to stain their hands with. He was to be sneaky and underhanded man, the one they called in to do kidnapping, espionage, assassinations...
For some reason, what he had pride himself on before now seemed to make him feel sick. He felt a little less human for the lives he'd taken and smiled as he done so. Namely that day he set the plate to release in Sector 07.
He looked back at Tifa, surprised that she even spoke on friendly terms with him anymore, despite he was the reason that she'd lost so many friends and the original Seventh Heaven in that attack. There was redemption for everyone... but was it something he wanted to seek?
“You look like you've got a lot on your mind, Reno.”
He glanced up at the voice, a half-smile habitually finding its way to play his lips. “Of course. We've got a world to save out there. Kind of strange still, working on the good side.” His hands played with his glass, twirling it on the counter top before him as Tifa leaned down trying to find his eyes.
“We're not so bad now, are we?”
“Heh.”
“Aww... you can't say it doesn't feel good to save the world,” she began, leaning back and crossing her arms across her anything-but-modest chest. Her long, thin, black hair licked at the sides of her face where it was layered slightly. He shrugged and leaned lazily against the back of the barstool.
“Who am I to say? You had to save the world from us once, yet you're willing to drop all that to work beside us? A little easy on the forgiving there aren't you?”
It was her time to shrug now, an understanding smile taking over her full lips. “Dilly dally shilly shally.”
“Huh?”
“Quit living in the past, you're beginning to sound like someone else around here,” she said gently, her voice bittersweet. The tone caused him to look up at her and he gave her a solemn nod. Perhaps his brooding and worrisome attitude is why Rayne had been anything but emotionally accommodating toward him since they shared their kiss.
His heart jumped a little just thinking about it. “Hey... thanks. You're not a bad advice giver, ya know?”
She chuckled a little and started back down the bar. “Anytime, Reno.”
With a little resolve in his heart, he pulled the cellular telephone from his suit pocket and flipped it open, thumbing through the menus to his new text messages.
Subject: Vacation Time From: Reeve
Reno, as a thank you for the personal favor you've done for me, I would like to
allot you some vacation time in Costa del Sol. Rufus ShinRa himself has
graciously offered his beach house there. You'll not be alone, and I still want you
to keep our agreement we made. I am sending Rayne with you. There have been
some developments with her condition and I wish for you to observe her in this time.
Reeve Tuesti
Reno stared at the message for a long while, unsure of what to make of it. Chances were, they'd be sending them off sooner than later, and again he'd be forced to spy and report on any and all of Rayne's doings. With a heavy sigh, he put the phone away and ordered another whiskey. They wouldn't send him out tonight and he was pretty sure he wasn't drunk enough yet to take on the task willingly.
- - - - -
“Alright, Rayne. I need you to lay back and count backwards from ten. This is going to sting quite a bit.”
She laid back on the table, silently cursing the numerous cords and monitors hooked to her. Rayne wished they'd just hurry up and inject her with it before her fear got the better of her and she demanded to know what was within the concoction. The I.V. had hurt enough when they put it in, and she quietly wondered just how inserting liquid through it could hurt any worse.
“Ten... nine... eight...”
The needle was inserted, though she felt nothing. She relaxed some against the semi-comfortable medical cot and continued her counting.
“Seven... six... five...”
Pressure ceased her left arm, and instantly her breath was stolen. She gripped the bed with white knuckles, clenching her teeth as it felt like little needles were slowly cutting up the vein in her arm.
“F-four... three... t-two...”
The sensation entered her chest, surrounding her heart that had began racing, causing the vile medicine to course quicker through her body. A tear left her eyes and before she could speak one, darkness claimed her without warning, taking her away from the conscious world into the one of her creation.
The technician looked over her stats, her heart was beating erratically, her blood pressure rising, and her brain activity had gone haywire. There wasn't anything he could do now, there was no counteraction for what he'd given her.
Jenova cells. Mixed with a sample of the Lifestream and her own DNA, it was a risky idea, but they hoped it was enough to reverse the degradation for now. The problem lay in how stable her mind would remain with more Jenova cells along with the Lifestream being injected. It was needed to heal her, it was the very source seemingly of all her power in the first place. However...
There was always the worry of where Sephiroth may be, so long as his body was no where to be found. To say he returned to the Lifestream was to worry his consciousness survived within it, Jenova with him, waiting for their next chance to assault the Planet.
And this vessel was one they couldn't allow them to take.
((A/N: Alright, first chapter of my second story in my RenoxRayne stories. Went a little longer, hoping to put a little more substance with these. Please, read, review, critique... just don't flame. They make the Reno muse cry.))
Title: Renavatio
Author: RenoxRayne
Chapter: 1, Truth
Summary: A month has passed since Reno and Rayne shared that kiss, unfortunately, things are not always as black and white as we wish them to be.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the main character, Rayne. Final Fantasy is a product of Square Enix, while Kingdom Hearts is a joint production of Square Enix and Disney Interactive Studios (Buena Vista Games.)
A city comprised of steel plates and machinery, where the wealthy had lived above and the poor suffered below. Out of sight, out of mind... their wellbeing meant nothing to those who'd lined their pockets with the Gil they were able to squeeze out of them. It hadn't mattered if they could feed themselves and their families, nor if they even woke up from day to day. Life was different for a Midgar citizen than it was for a ShinRa Executive.
Midgar citizens woke up to suffer, ShinRa Executives woke up to see to it that they did.
Despite the time that had passed between Meteor's attack on the Planet. Despite the time that those who'd escaped the tragedy had had to get over the events, the former Mako-fueled city held a haunting air about it. No matter how many times one rode past the mangled chain-link fence, flew over the tangled wreckage, it never seemed to go away.
Midgar was more than just a scar on the Planet, but a wound on the hearts of those who'd lived through the tragedy.
Rayne piloted the helicopter closer, smirking to herself as she noticed the Church in the Sector 5 slums still stood as steady as ever. Sure, there ceased to be a ceiling, the white stone now was more of a moss-ridden gray-green, but it was there none the less causing her to inwardly wonder if the flowers remained as well.
Unfortunately, the wellbeing of flowers wasn't on her agenda today, and so she continued angling her flight path to swoop back through the Playground area and where the Wall Market had once been, her sharpened senses gazing for any form of life that may have been there. People had begun to come up missing, spotted around the Midgar vicinity before disappearing seemingly out of thin air. Of course, such a job would call upon the Turks to come in and investigate before they had their reserve military force come in and sweep through a clean up.
She didn't mind so much the flying anymore, especially once she'd managed to learn to pilot a helicopter of her own. The sickening lurch of her stomach managed to stay at bay, allowing the young Turk to do her job without any problem... or dependence on Reno.
Reno...
Rayne knew it, she was running again and there wasn't anyone who could say anything different. To say she hadn't thought of the kiss they shared would be a blatant lie. To say that it wasn't something that had made her feel the world come alive around her would be false as well.
To say that she didn't feel something for Reno... therein lay the confliction.
There had been something there, a spark the tried to ignite something from the foliage that hid her guarded heart. Whether it had been successful or not, she'd managed to smother the bramble before it anything could come of it. For so long, she had wanted to be loved by another, to have her feelings requited by someone.
No... not someone... Axel.
Her yearning for love had originated with him, and as she had originally thought, died with him as well. But Reno had awakened it as if it'd never slumbered at all, and she had to wonder whether or not it was because she truly had feelings for the red-haired Turk or if it was the remnants of Axel that she found him in.
What's more... did she want to love him? Did she want to tether her soul to a creature as fragile as he? She had been genetically altered, making her a little sharper, a little stronger, a little harder to kill. But Reno... he wasn't even SOLDIER material, just a simple Turk whose life could be ended by a single well placed bullet.
“Sector Seven and Eight are devoid of activity.” Rude's voice called from his own chopper.
“Ditto for One and Two! Reno?” Elena's voice chipped in.
“Nothing of interest in Three or Four.”
His voice sounded so listless through the radio, and Rayne forced herself to blame it on the mechanical device. What machine could accurately relay human emotion anyway? “Five and Six are clear. Shall we take it home Tseng?”
There was a pause on their PDA's before his voice sounded over them. “Return to headquarters. We'll start the search again tomorrow at first light. Rayne, Reeve would like to speak with you in his office when you return.”
She pondered just what it could be about, wondering if perhaps her friendship-because that was all it was ever going to be-with Reno was something frowned on with the company. Turning her chopper toward Edge, she lead the others back in to home.
“I'm going out for drinks, anyone else game?” Reno may have been inviting everyone, but he grey-blue eyes had fallen on Rayne and she turned her head so fast her hair fell in perfect position to hide her face.
“I think I'm going to have an early night after I speak with Reeve,” she began, heading past them into the building. He watched after her, feeling the gazes of Elena and Rude burning his flesh. They knew what was going on in his head, the pain that only his eyes managed to fail at hiding. He forced a nonchalant grin onto his features and waved it off.
“Just one less drink for me to buy.”
- - - - -
Rayne drug her shoes across the polished marble flooring of the World Regenesis Organization halls, the paintings, plaques, and other decorations that hung on the walls blurring at the edges of her visions as she found herself more enraptured within her mind. More and more lately, she had found herself spending her time daydreaming of various scenarios, some realistic some clearly fantasy.
Some days, she was the heroine, proving herself to the people of the Planet that she was more than some genetically engineered freak. Other days, she was a damsel in distress, awaiting her hero. Same red hair, same smug smile... holding their hand out to her she could only make out their silhouette in the bright light. Do you trust me?
Then sometimes, when she was alone in her room, she was just Rayne. Just a normal girl with normal problems, like what to wear, not being late to work, stopping that snag in her hose. Love and her differences held no meaning because they just weren't relevant.
But this was the real world and that was a place her mind had created for her to escape for awhile, when she had no where else to run from those who symbolized all she didn't know how to handle right now.
It couldn't stay like this forever, could it?
The elevator dinged, releasing her into the Director of the WRO's floor. Simple cream colored cushioned benches lined corners, potted plants and oakwood end tables with various newspapers on weapon development, medical journals, and science digests for people awaiting to be met to read. Rayne had never actually had to wait her turn when called up here, always being summoned when he was alone.
The see through glass door opened with little effort from her, and she made her way in, stopping just before his polished black desk, papers strewn haphazardly across it. Of course, she recognized her file sitting atop it all, open, and marked in some scrawl was her medical records. It was beginning to become more and more clear just what it was that possessed him to call her up here.
“Take a seat, please.” She did as was told, letting her eyes travel to whatever she could find within the office, unable to keep them still. She was nervous, and with her uncertainty she felt oddly trapped in the spacious room. He must have sensed this, a polite smile on his stern features. “Relax, this isn't a performance review, your job is safe.”
Yeah... a relief... She thought to herself, not thoroughly sure if she was happy or not. “If you don't mind me asking, what is it that you called me up here for?”
“You were injured...” he began, looking over her file. “A month ago, in a reconnaissance mission inside Wutai, correct?”
Her chestnut brows knitted with momentary confusion as she instantly recalled the situation. “Yes, one of the fiends there took me off guard and caught my side. I was treated here and cleared for duty soon afterward,” she relayed matter-of-factly. He could have confirmed that with her medical records, of that she was sure. It hadn't been any sort of major procedure, simple stitches and they sent her on her way.
“Would you mind if I saw your wound? Please.” Reeve questioned as he stood. Again, the look of questioning came over her face and he stopped for a moment. “For purely medical purposes, I assure you. I have some... concerns that go along with those who were a product of Project G.”
“Oh...” Rayne sighed heavily, standing some as she pulled her shirt up enough to reveal he right ribcage, covered in bandages.
“You're still wearing the bandages?” He sounded surprised, and waved her to put her shirt back down. Sitting back down at the other side of the desk, he began quickly typing something into his computer, giving Rayne half the mind to crane her neck to see.
“Well... yes. They told me to keep it wrapped in clean bandages until the stitches came out on their own. Is there a problem?”
Reeve ran a hand through his thick goatee and looked at her for a long time, and she could almost see the wheels turning in his head trying to decide how to break whatever it was that he had to tell her.
“Whatever it is, just tell me. I promise, I'm a big girl Reeve, I can take it. I've proven to be mentally stable thus far, I don't think I'll be breaking anytime soon.”
“Fair enough.” He said, a small smile forming at her strength. By far, she had proven herself to be the most stable mentally from the separate projects, despite the fact that she was the weakest when it came to physical combat. “You're not going to heal, the wound will continue to steadily get worse--”
“The Degradation process.” She finished for him, her voice sounding hallow in her pointed ears. “It afflicted Genesis and he was given, what, a term of four years before it would kill him?”
Reeve nodded slowly, not at all surprised that she'd done her homework. Granted the first couple times she'd holed up within the Research Department for hours at a time reading over endless journals on cases like hers and what few were actually around her, he was worried her mind would crack as Sephiroth's had. Of all employees, he'd followed her the closest, in a way that far surpassed the spying he had done so long ago with Cait Sith.
He'd given Reno special orders to spy on her.
As the request for him stood even today, he pondered if it was worth it still. She seemed of sound body and mind, and something had changed in Reno since he'd started his watching her.
“So she's safe then, you all aren't going to kill her when I go to sleep tonight or anything?” Reno questioned hopefully, the guilt obvious in his voice. Turk as he was, he still had a heart and submitting a harmless girl to her death was not something he could live with doing. Kidnapping an Ancient, that was something else entirely. She would have been kept alive and just experimented on... this they had been talking about was murder.
“Yes, for now, she is safe,” Reeve consented and Reno's shoulders relaxed. “However... she was kept in suspended animation and she's only been in the world for a short amount of time. The truth seemed detrimental to the sound minds of the products of Project G and Project S. We cannot risk her falling apart in such close quarters. Do you get what I mean?”
He looked at the ground, pondering if his research had all been for naught. He'd presented them with viable information that, in his eyes, would have given her a free ticket to get out of here and do as she wished. Sure, Sephiroth had lost it, Genesis had lost it, and Angeal had... he wasn't sure what had happened to him. And after the incident with the Tsviets... “Yes, sir.”
“Alright then. I've cleared it through Tseng that you are permitted leeway, and to assign her to any assignments you may go on.”
“But Rude is--”
“On vacation for now. Whether he chooses to take it is upon him. For now, she's your responsibility. Do whatever you must to gain her trust and insure you may keep close. She seems like a nice enough girl, and a good asset. Perhaps we can avoid a possible villain in her.”
“Understood.”
Reeve sighed, looking at his screen. He partially felt guilty for having her watched, but he had to worry about the Planet first and whatever soft spots he had later. This... was a bit of both however as he came to a decision. “There may be a way to reverse the effects enough to allow you to heal. But you'll have to spend the night in the Observation Ward to insure it takes.”
Her green eyes glistened as she examined him closely, wondering what exactly was going on in his mind before he spoke again. They'd merely sat in silence for a good measure of time before he had said anything. Yet... if there were some sort of cure for this degradation... “I'm sensing some hesitation in this. What's wrong?”
He put on a happy visage, shaking his head. “I merely worry for your safety,” he began, only half-lying. “Its still a prototype and we haven't had a lot of people its needed to be tested on.”
Rayne wasn't entirely buying it, but if it was a cure-albeit temporary-she'd take it. “I'll take it.”
Punching in a few more things on his keyboard, he sent it off and turned his full attention toward her. “Good. Head to medical, they're expecting you.”
“Thank you, sir,” she bowed politely, turning toward the door.
“Oh, and President ShinRa has allotted his beach house to us for the next week. I'm sending you and Reno there for vacation, as you both have been my hardest working operatives.”
Rayne opened her mouth to protest, but he shook his head, putting his hand up to still her lips. “Its not an offer, its an order. Take some R&R, you both need it.” Returning to his work, he left her nothing more to do than to leave his office and head down to medical. She'd run out of places to hide... especially if he was sending them both to share the beach house in Costa del Sol.
Reeve waited until she was gone before pulling out his cell phone, and sending out a memo. He'd need his cooperation more than anything this time.
- - - - -
Through the roar and activity of Seventh Heaven, Reno felt his cell phone ring. Half tempted to ignore the ring and drown himself in the alcohol, possibly get drunk, make a pass at Tifa, and get thrown out on his head, he waited for another buzz of a ring but realized it stopped at just one. A text. Glancing sideways at Rude and Elena-the former of which was bashfully glancing at Tifa himself-he noted that neither of them had acknowledged any text on their devices. That meant one of two things, spam or personal.
Part of him hoped for the latter.
He'd atoned for condemning the girl he found in Nibelheim to death, even saved her life. He'd kept his word afterwards and did what he could to stay close to her, watch over her, and in turn got to watch her adjust to life as a human being rather than a terrified refugee who'd run away confused and brought herself up. She'd come into her womanhood easily, either through her own mental strength or Jenova's ability to absorb such traits from the lifeforms around her.
He'd watched her, and found himself admiring her more for it.
At first sign of the inklings of feelings toward the elusive woman, he'd brushed them off as getting into character. To becoming the man he needed to be in order for her to confide in him and let her guard down around him. If he could become her emotional dependent, then maybe he could anchor her and keep her from falling like the others. What had been a mission first started becoming a little more than that. He stopped having to protect her and began wanting to. He started to like protecting her and finally it just started becoming an automatic thing.
He found joy in being her hero.
Reno the hero... nice rhyming quality, yet he knew being a Turk when he signed up that he'd never be the hero. That wasn't his place. It was in the shadows, doing the dirty work no one else wanted to stain their hands with. He was to be sneaky and underhanded man, the one they called in to do kidnapping, espionage, assassinations...
For some reason, what he had pride himself on before now seemed to make him feel sick. He felt a little less human for the lives he'd taken and smiled as he done so. Namely that day he set the plate to release in Sector 07.
He looked back at Tifa, surprised that she even spoke on friendly terms with him anymore, despite he was the reason that she'd lost so many friends and the original Seventh Heaven in that attack. There was redemption for everyone... but was it something he wanted to seek?
“You look like you've got a lot on your mind, Reno.”
He glanced up at the voice, a half-smile habitually finding its way to play his lips. “Of course. We've got a world to save out there. Kind of strange still, working on the good side.” His hands played with his glass, twirling it on the counter top before him as Tifa leaned down trying to find his eyes.
“We're not so bad now, are we?”
“Heh.”
“Aww... you can't say it doesn't feel good to save the world,” she began, leaning back and crossing her arms across her anything-but-modest chest. Her long, thin, black hair licked at the sides of her face where it was layered slightly. He shrugged and leaned lazily against the back of the barstool.
“Who am I to say? You had to save the world from us once, yet you're willing to drop all that to work beside us? A little easy on the forgiving there aren't you?”
It was her time to shrug now, an understanding smile taking over her full lips. “Dilly dally shilly shally.”
“Huh?”
“Quit living in the past, you're beginning to sound like someone else around here,” she said gently, her voice bittersweet. The tone caused him to look up at her and he gave her a solemn nod. Perhaps his brooding and worrisome attitude is why Rayne had been anything but emotionally accommodating toward him since they shared their kiss.
His heart jumped a little just thinking about it. “Hey... thanks. You're not a bad advice giver, ya know?”
She chuckled a little and started back down the bar. “Anytime, Reno.”
With a little resolve in his heart, he pulled the cellular telephone from his suit pocket and flipped it open, thumbing through the menus to his new text messages.
Subject: Vacation Time From: Reeve
Reno, as a thank you for the personal favor you've done for me, I would like to
allot you some vacation time in Costa del Sol. Rufus ShinRa himself has
graciously offered his beach house there. You'll not be alone, and I still want you
to keep our agreement we made. I am sending Rayne with you. There have been
some developments with her condition and I wish for you to observe her in this time.
Reeve Tuesti
Reno stared at the message for a long while, unsure of what to make of it. Chances were, they'd be sending them off sooner than later, and again he'd be forced to spy and report on any and all of Rayne's doings. With a heavy sigh, he put the phone away and ordered another whiskey. They wouldn't send him out tonight and he was pretty sure he wasn't drunk enough yet to take on the task willingly.
- - - - -
“Alright, Rayne. I need you to lay back and count backwards from ten. This is going to sting quite a bit.”
She laid back on the table, silently cursing the numerous cords and monitors hooked to her. Rayne wished they'd just hurry up and inject her with it before her fear got the better of her and she demanded to know what was within the concoction. The I.V. had hurt enough when they put it in, and she quietly wondered just how inserting liquid through it could hurt any worse.
“Ten... nine... eight...”
The needle was inserted, though she felt nothing. She relaxed some against the semi-comfortable medical cot and continued her counting.
“Seven... six... five...”
Pressure ceased her left arm, and instantly her breath was stolen. She gripped the bed with white knuckles, clenching her teeth as it felt like little needles were slowly cutting up the vein in her arm.
“F-four... three... t-two...”
The sensation entered her chest, surrounding her heart that had began racing, causing the vile medicine to course quicker through her body. A tear left her eyes and before she could speak one, darkness claimed her without warning, taking her away from the conscious world into the one of her creation.
The technician looked over her stats, her heart was beating erratically, her blood pressure rising, and her brain activity had gone haywire. There wasn't anything he could do now, there was no counteraction for what he'd given her.
Jenova cells. Mixed with a sample of the Lifestream and her own DNA, it was a risky idea, but they hoped it was enough to reverse the degradation for now. The problem lay in how stable her mind would remain with more Jenova cells along with the Lifestream being injected. It was needed to heal her, it was the very source seemingly of all her power in the first place. However...
There was always the worry of where Sephiroth may be, so long as his body was no where to be found. To say he returned to the Lifestream was to worry his consciousness survived within it, Jenova with him, waiting for their next chance to assault the Planet.
And this vessel was one they couldn't allow them to take.
((A/N: Alright, first chapter of my second story in my RenoxRayne stories. Went a little longer, hoping to put a little more substance with these. Please, read, review, critique... just don't flame. They make the Reno muse cry.))