Healin Lodge, Gaia, Saturday Morning

[raspberryturk]

Reno	Reno hung up the phone. He was a man on a mission, after all. The presence of Jenova's head had kind of led him to make the obvious assumption- that somehow, a certain former SOLDIER was involved. The silver-haired trio in the cave had helped to cement that notion. So he'd called for Cloud. You know. Casually. To little avail. Tifa had answered the phone, and she said she'd try to get in touch with the blonde emo whiner-pants for him, so that was at least a bit of weight off of his shoulders. There were a few weights off of his shoulders now, actually. Reno had handed the disembodied, stinking alien head to Rufus, and what Rufus did with it from there was anyone's best guess. It could be up his ass for all Reno cared. It wasn't his problem, anymore. Reno was making progress. Totally. Progress was awesome. It just was. What he wasn't expecting, shortly after hanging up the phone, was a return phone call. With a Turk ringtone. And the name that came up on call display? Tseng. Needless to say, Reno was barely containing his relief when he answered the phone. "Boss!?"
Kadaj	"Boss?" snickered the voice on the other end. "I like the sound of that."
Reno	That... That wasn't Tseng. Reno's blood ran cold, his eyes narrowed. He was trying not to throw the phone. "Where the hell is Tseng, you freakin' creep?!" Reno was not using his indoor voice.
Kadaj	"Probably right where we left him," Kadaj giggled, looking down over the wastelands. "He didn't look like he was gonna be wandering off any time soon. Not with all those big holes in him."
Reno	Not throwing the phone. Not. Not puking, either. Turk mode was on. Correction. Angry Turk mode was on. "What. The. Fuck. Do. You. Want?" Reno wasn't in the mood to be toyed with. He wasn't. Okay. Boss was... Dead. Rookie was probably the same. Reno wanted to get to the goddamn point so that he could do everything in his power to fuck these guys over. A lot. Sideways. With a rake. Reno didn't notice that he was being stared at by Rufus and Rude. At the moment, it didn't particularly matter.
Kadaj	"Funny you should ask," Kadaj said. His brothers were attacking the blonde one, their Big Brother. But Mother wasn't with him. She was with the ones from the chopper. The Turks. They would be with Her soon. "You have something we need."

---

Reno	The waiting game. That's what this had turned into. Trying to contact Cloud again. No Dice. Again. Standing around. Pacing the room. Gripping to stun batons and holding breath and waiting. Because those Sephiroth wannabes were on the way, and anyone that could torture a Turk, even the Rookie, hard enough to make them crack... Reno was more than just a little on the anxious side. Which was why, when footsteps could be heard on the way up to the door, he was quite ready to throw himself at whoever it was, EMR-first.
Cloud	And why he was actually relieved when it was Cloud's sword to settle just under his chin. Somewhat. A little. Tifa must have gotten in touch with him, after all. Not that Reno could leave well-enough alone. A step back, a lunge forward, and...
Reno	... And Reno was stumbling right out the door. Dammit, Cloud wasn't supposed to actually move, there. Nor was he supposed to slam the door in Reno's face and lock it before he could get back inside. Stupid jerk. Emo kid. Fucknugget.
Reno (and Rude)	"Okay, so you're good," Reno mumbled, moving toward one of the windows and attempting to peer inside. What he saw, with his somewhat limited view between the blinds, was Rude, stepping into the room and pulling on his gloves. "Yeah, Rude, lookin' sharp!" Reno wanted very badly to try to kick in the door. But then he'd catch hell. For kicking in the door. At least the guy had turned out to be Cloud. There were worse, after all, who could have stepped into Healin just then.
Reno	The rest of what went on inside the building was pretty much a muffled jumble that Reno couldn't quite make out. Rufus and Cloud talking, tones jumping from surprised to angry to bitter to thoughtful. And it was getting boring outside. Shit, if Reno was going to be in charge of the Turks... all two of them... he was going to have to know what the hell was going on in there. "I'm still out here...?" No dice. Damn it. He sidestepped again, pressed his ear up against the door, and squinted, impressed that he could actually just barely make out the next words that Rufus had said.
Rufus	"As a first step, we have commenced an investigation in Sephiroth's wake."
Reno	"Yep," Reno contributed, almost too cheerfully. "At the Northern Cave!" Stupid cave, anyhow. More listening. Cloud asking what any of this had to do with him. "You're our buddy, aren't ya?" Reno was on the wrong side of the door. That didn't mean he was going to keep his yap shut. Which was why he was rewarded with a sharp thump against the door for an answer. Right, then. That worked well. Reno stuck his finger in his ear and winced. Okay, not sticking his ear to the door again. Cloud was such a jerk. But at least the door opened a crack, there. Excellent. Now he could at least hear the conversation while he loomed in the doorway. Once the ringing in his freaking ear stopped.
Cloud	"What's this stuff about... 'Mother'?" Cloud's tone seemed uncertain. Tentative.
Rufus	"Why, did Kadaj say something to you? No surprise. There are plenty of kids who miss their mothers. That's the world we live in." Good old Rufus Shinra. Always with some sort of bullshit answer. The kind that reeled in whoever was stupid enough to listen. Hopefully, that stupid person would be Cloud. "I hear there are orphans living with you," Rufus continued, picking at those scabs and working on actually hitting home. "Think about it... Don't you want to put smiles back on their faces? All we want in the end... is to rebuild our world, Cloud." Rufus was full of so much mushy bullshit that Reno wanted to puke.
Cloud	"But I..." Wow, after all that, Cloud still wasn't going to go for it?
Reno	"C'mon, Cloud. Think about it." Fine. Reno would get to the freaking punch already and just out with it. "Together, we can rebuild ShinRa!" There. Waffle at that, Emo-Kid.
Cloud	"Not interested." That's right! That's- Wait. Reno's mouth hung open, his jaw somewhere around his knees, as Cloud Strife pushed past him and made his way back to that stupid shiny motorbike of his.
Reno	Reno barely heard Rude and the President as they admonished him from inside the room. He'd blown it. There went the planet. Well, shit.

---

Reno	Cloud had walked away. The boss was dead. The rookie was dead. The head was... somewhere or something. There were three Sephiroth clones en route to Healin with the end of the world in mind. Reno was going to die. He was. Him and Rude and Rufus and everyone else on the whole damn planet, like the world hadn't been saved enough already in the past few years. The luck was bound to run out sooner or later. The world had nobody on its side. And Reno couldn't just walk away anyhow. His hands were shaking as he dialed Rikku's number. She told him so.
Rikku	Rikku grabbed at her phone. A whole day, and he hadn't called, and every time the stupid phone rang she jumped. Because she had no idea what was wrong, but something was, and it sounded bad, and please let this be Reno before she snapped at someone else for calling her for no good reason? "Hello?" she said quickly. Dating a Turk really sucked some days.
Reno	"I tell you lately how much I love you?" He didn't have anything else to say, just then. He just... had to be sure. And stuff. Damn, his mouth was dry.
Rikku	"No?" Rikku said, mind racing. Was that ... good? The world was saved, everything was okay, he was relieved and coming home for squeezy hugs? ... Please? "I mean, you do, but you should say it more. I don't say it enough. I love you. Everybody else that called today, I've been grumpy they weren't you. Just ask them." Couldn't stop babbling, dammit.
Reno	"I would... Like to." Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shaking more. The prospect of dying had never scared Reno and now he hated it. Hated it and he had to go out fighting and... "I..." Spit it out. "I don't.... Spit it out. "Rikku, it's..." Spit it OUT, Reno! "It's bad."
Rikku	"I know," she said, tearing up. Stupid. Stupid. "I m-mean. I don't know how bad. Just that you ... you sound tired and exhausted and like you need food and sleep and aren't getting any and I ..." Wanted to wrap her arms around him and let him shake. Please? Deep breath. "H-how bad? Is ..."
Reno	He couldn't find words. He couldn't. Reno took a few, deep, shaky breaths and every time he tried nothing came out so he took a few more, and finally he exhaled and all that did come out was a mess of speech. "Tseng and Elena are dead and it's just me an' Rude and we got the head but the silver-haired guys are comin' and Cloud walked away and Rikku I fucking love you and I'm so sorry and it's--" He choked. He had to breathe. One more deep breath, and his next words were barely a whisper. Nothing left to them. "They're Sephiroth. Won't stay dead. Won't stay dead..." Fuck standing up. Reno had slumped backward against the nearest wall. Now he was on his ass on the floor.
Rikku	Her jaw was hanging open and she couldn't find words, either, couldn't process, couldn't take it in. "They're ... Tseng's ... dead?" she said, swallowing past a lump in her throat. "I'm so ... that's ... Reno. I'm so, so sorry." She was so stupid and horrible, she'd been mad about him having to stay longer and his boss was dead, and -- and he said someone else wouldn't stay dead. She thought of Seymour, then. Killing him over and over again, and each time, he reappeared, with a higher body count to his name. This wasn't just bad. He was talking like it was the end of the world. "It'll be okay," she said quickly. "It will. I love you. So much. We can do this. How do I --"
Reno	We can do this. We. Like he wasn't alone or something. It was him and Rude, he'd fucked it up with Cloud, and she was saying we like she was going to just-- "Can't. Can't, Rikku, don't. Just... stay there. Gaia ain't nothin' for long, it's bad." Obviously. He stopped talking long enough to draw in a deep, ragged breath. There wasn't time for him to lose it. There wasn't time for him to break. He had to hold it together long enough for the remnants to show up and kill him, of course. "They're comin' here." That wasn't shaky. It was numb. Half-dead already. Almost ready to just throw in the towel.
Rikku	Gaia ain't nothin' for long. It was the end of the world. Shit. Shit. Shit. "Who?" she said. "Where? Tell me what's happening, I -- please. Reno, I can help, I can, I --" She was cut off by a rather loud rattling, from the ferret cage, and a honk. "It's okay, Mako," she said, reaching her fingers in through the wires. Dammit. Now she woke the ferret up, too. "I'm sorry. It's okay."
Reno	Mako. The ferret, not the power source. He'd protested so damn hard while she was dragging him off to get the little guy. Because he couldn't commit. Because sooner rather than later, he'd end up dead or otherwise unable to come back for him, and that would be that. He couldn't answer her questions. If he did, he'd just make it easier for her to show up herself and get killed. So he took a breath. Shut his eyes. Tightened his grip on the phone. "Keep him fed, zoto."
Rikku	"He misses you," she said, sticking her fingers through the bars. Mako honked again, sadly. Why couldn't he play? She was crying. She should play, instead. "I ... Reno, please. I need to know. You can't. Please?"
Reno	Begging. She was begging. Asking. Not. It was. Reno buried his face in the hand that wasn't holding the phone and he took a deep breath. He couldn't tell her where he was. Couldn't tell her more than he had. She'd come running in, and he wasn't going to risk her life, too, just because he didn't want to die alone. It never mattered before, damn it. "I can't. I wish I could. I can't, yoto." A deep breath. "I love you." Another breath. "I'm sorry." And that's when Reno hung up the phone. He was going to allow himself exactly one minute. One minute to fall apart. One minute to cry. Sixty seconds. And then he was going to stand up, dust himself off, and go into the other room, where he'd play bodyguard for the president and wait.
Rikku	Rikku cried longer than sixty seconds. She turned her phone off, threw it across the room, and let herself sob, slumping next to the ferret cage. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Mako chittered anxiously, bumping her fingers with his hand. Hello? Hello? She was crying again! He could chew her fingers, would that help? Hello? Finally, she opened the cage and pulled Mako out, nuzzling him close. "It's okay," she said softly. "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. I love you. Be good, okay?" He got a kiss on the nose before she wiped her eyes and set him back in the cage. One last sniffle. "Mommy has to go save the world."

[NFI, NFB, because of the distance thing. Preplayed with the_merriest, who once again demonstrated her 1337 coding skills on top of playing a most villainous Kadaj. Yet another small chunk of dialog was snitched from Advent Children. OOC? Always shiny.]