Massaging out the kinks in his neck he crossed the room in three strides, scattering the ashes of his little arson job in the process. Gray flecks of cinders kicked up into the air like filthy snow as the whoosh of air from the closing door propelled them airborne. When they had settled the inside of Reno’s office looked just like the outside of Midgar.

The PHS in Reno’s pocket suddenly started ringing.

“Yo.” He drawled.

“Reeve here. Reno, have Elena and Rude returned yet?”

Reno shifted the cigarette to the other side of his mouth. “Not since I woke up.”

There was a definite pause on the other line. When Reeve spoke into the receiver again it sounded deliberately patient. Reno just chuckled.

“Well, I need that report on the Junon base ASAP. Could you meet them halfway?”

“Where? At Fort Condor, or maybe Cosmo Canyon?”

“No. Ideally they could bring it on a straight path here, but I need to send them off on another errand that will take them north to Glacier.”

“Reeve… The Turks are a team. You can’t just keep splitting us up like this. We work best together. What the hell are you trying to do?!”

“I’m sorry Reno, it can’t be helped. All three of you are indispensable, but you’re also the most experienced and capable employees we have left of ShinRa. I need people I can trust, and frankly, there aren't many left.”

"....”

“Reno?”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“First I need you to pick up the package from Elena and Rude in...I guess, Costa del Sol, and then I want you to go to Nibelheim.”

“What? Nibelheim? What the hell do you want from that creepy husk of a town?”

Even Reno wasn’t above the atmosphere of gloom and wrongness that personified Cloud Strife's former home. Before Meteor had thrown chaos into new levels, Sephiroth had razed the town to ashes in his madness, and whatever Hojo and Gast has conducted there traces of it still lingered. He had no desire to set foot back into what he considered the origin of weirdness. After all Cloud had come from there hadn’t he?

Silently Reno chanted under his breath, “Not the mansion. Not the mansion…”

“I need you to get some files Hojo left in the laboratory. In the mansion…”

“Figures,” he grumbled irritably, grinding the end of his cigarette into pulp.

“What was that?”

“Nuthin’, but you don’t expect me to go in there without backup do you? What’s the point of splitting up the Turks if…”

Reeve cut him off. “I don’t expect you to go anywhere without the proper backup. I actually have someone in mind to send with you.”

Reno spit out the remains of the cigarette in disgust. Here it comes he thought.

“Cloud let me know that he’s heading in that general direction. I’ll ask him to accompany you.”

“Spike?!” He said incredulously. This was worse than he thought. “You’re sending me with psycho chocobo boy?!” Anyone but Cloud he thought desperately. Even Tifa. Despite the fact that she had personally promised to break his bones into so much powder and then light what remained on fire for the Sector Seven incident, he could still think of several reasons why he would rather travel with her. Two big ones actually.

“I know you’re not keen on working with him Reno, but Cloud’s a friend, and…”

“And nobody else was stupid enough to take you up on the job?” He finished for him.

“Well actually I was going to say he was the only one available…” Reeve ended lamely.

“Same difference.”

“Well, all the same, will you do it Reno?”

“Yeah whatever.” And he clicked off the PHS to show how little he liked the idea.

* * * *

The next morning brought the faint remains of a hangover, and Cloud Strife, ex-SOLDIER, current occupation in question now that world had been saved. Neither were wanted.

“You’re early,” Reno grunted. He sat tilted back in the chair of his ‘office’ still shaking off sleep, not bothering to stand up in acknowledgement of the other man.

“And you haven’t changed a bit,” Cloud remarked, leaning casually against the doorframe.

Reno yawned and gave his guest a careful assessment behind shaded eyes. Cloud Strife had never been tall. At 5’6” he was still a good 5 inches shorter than Reno, but if one added the additional 7 inches of hair, then one might also say they were even. And if saving the world had been Strife’s last physical job, his physique showed no signs of change. If anything the leanness that made him seem slight and boyish had been shed for a tougher skin. He was tanner than when Reno had seen him last, and there was long white scar that ran from his elbow to disappear beneath a gloved hand. The Mako eyes regarded him solemnly.

“What?”

“Just wanted to see how tough this babysitting job is gonna be.”

A blond eyebrow shot up. If anyone got stuck with the raw deal here it was me,” Cloud said. “Reeve asked me to go with you to see that you didn’t fuck up or get fucked up in turn. I don’t have the time for your bullshit, but I do have to pass through Nibelheim. If you hurry your ass up maybe you’ll catch up.” With that he turned away and started down the corridor.

“$%#&! you Strife!” Reno shouted at the retreating back. “I don’t need this, especially from a punk like you! You think saving the world means everyone has to bow down at your feet?”

Cloud reappeared in the doorway, the Ultima Weapon unsheathed, but it was a sad kind of amusement glowing blue in his eyes. He studied the weapon for a long time, admiring the sheen of its edge and the familiar grip. Without looking up he said,

“I never asked for it Reno. It just sort of came with taking down Sephiroth. If you want this,” he held up the weapon, “You’re welcome to it, and everything that goes with it.”

Reno said nothing in way of reply, but he lit up another cigarette and glared.

Cloud’s somber expression abruptly changed into a feral grin. “I don’t expect you to understand—“

“Or care,” Reno added.

“—but from what Reeve has told me, whatever he wants from Nibelheim also has something to do with the both of us.”

That gave him pause. The green eyes narrowed suspiciously. He blew smoke out of his nose in twin jets of vapor that rose and collected above the halo of red hair like a gathering storm of clouds.

“Reeve hadn't mentioned to me what it was exactly that he wanted from the mansion yet.”

Cloud held up a thin, creamy packet, which had by the looks of it, already been opened. He tossed it unceremoniously on Reno’s lap and resheathed the sword.

Transferring the cigarette from the left hand to mouth Reno thumbed the seal open and randomly pulled out a sheet of typed paper. He read the heading, "Human Subjects; Mako Infusion Study", and gave an involuntary shudder. Glancing up at Cloud he saw the other man press his lips together in a thin line of what could only be revulsion. He himself had undergone what all candidates for SOLDIER had too, namely the Mako infusion process that Professor Gast has perfected 30 years earlier. It wasn’t by any accounts a pleasant experience, and only the soundest in body and mind made it through unscathed. If one could call it that. He had doubts on the mental affects personally. The interesting thing was, as his memory reminded him with a sudden burp of information, was that Cloud Strife had failed the initial stages of the process and had never made it into SOLDIER.

He gave a half smirk that seemed to puzzle Strife, but then his memory regurgitated another piece of information that wiped it from his face. Strife and another guy…an actual SOLDIER, Zack? Zax?, had been captured by ShinRa after their flight from the massacre at Nibelheim and had been returned there only to be experimented on by Hojo. From the sketchy information he’d been able to drag from Tseng, it had involved a new infusion process that had transformed Cloud into the warrior he was now. No wonder the vibes he was getting from the blond were bordering on anxiety. And he’d never admit it himself, but the Mako process wasn’t something he’d rather dwell on too long, and in any great detail.

Cloud shifted impatiently in the doorway, and gave Reno a pointed look that clearly said “Hurry the &*$@ up.”

Ignoring him easily, Reno scanned down the page, through the scientific babble that threatened to numb his brain worse than a shot of Midgar’s specialty, and paused when he reached a list of names at the bottom.

The heading there read:

UNDER STRICT OBSERVATION. SUBJECTS ARE UNCOMPROMISED AND STILL UNDERGOING TREATMENTS AS OF MIDGAR YEAR 77.

It was currently Midgar year 79

KYLE BRAUCLAN DANAHEY

TRAVIS FOREMAN

JANET RALMALESE

SAMPRIS DAVEK

The list continued on. Some of the names sounded vaguely familiar. Others were complete strangers. And one was enough to make him choke on the smoke he suddenly couldn’t exhale.

RENO L. DELANEY

What the fuck…

“You ready to go yet?” Cloud prompted.

"It wasn't that you were the only one available was it?"

Cloud shook his head. "Actually it was just coincidence that I was in the area. I promised Cid I'd see what I could do about getting Neo ShinRa to consider another space program. But I guess you could also say, I am the only one around to do it."

Reno carelessly shoved the papers back into the envelope. He put out the cigarette on the corner of his new desk and stood up. There was an uneasy quality to his posture, but the eyes were hard as agates.

“Alright. Let’s get out of here then.”

Back to the Waking Index

On to Chapter 2: Snakes Don't Taste Like Chicken