Thanks for the memories

“Thanks for the Memories”
A Reno fan fiction
Chapter 15: “Search and loss”
~*******************************************~
*Disclaimer: The world that this story is set in and all characters therein belong to Square-Enix. This fiction piece is strictly a non-profit exercise of creativity and entertainment for people (like me) who can’t get enough of this world and the characters.*
~***********************************************~

Things got depressing real fast. Rude and I were on the search team and we flew all over the Midgar and surrounding areas trying to find those guys. I was pretty damned frustrated and I tried to play it off like I was just irritated that we were stuck looking for a couple of needles in a huge haystack, but Rude saw right through it, yo.

~*************************************~

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Reno complained as he scanned the ground and steered the chopper. “Do they really think we’re going to be able to find these guys? We’re talking an ex-First and…well…I guess the kid that’s with him is just dragging him down, since they said he was basically a vegetable.”

Rude shrugged. “That’s why we’ve got a better chance of finding them, Red. The kid’s going to slow Fair down and there’s no mission that’s impossible for the—“

“Yeah, yeah,” Reno interrupted with a sarcastic look. “The Turks. But hell, you remember how Zack was. The man could improvise like nobody I ever met.”

Rude reached out and patted the redhead’s arm. “We’ll find ‘em, partner. We’ve got to. Tseng has something for him, anyway.”

“Who?” Reno frowned at the bald man. “The target? Fair? What the hell, man…are you saying we’re out here trying to save these suckers’ asses just so Tseng can give Zack a package?”

Rude grimaced. “You know there’s more to it than that. You’re sweating, Red.”

“Well, it’s fucking hot,” Reno snapped.

They were interrupted by Cissnei’s voice over the transmission. “Reno, Rude…do you have anything yet?”

Reno moved his mic over his mouth. “We’ve got nothing. Where are you at, doll?”

She gave her coordinates and suggested they move on to a different location. “We’re on it,” Reno sighed before ending the transmission. He looked at his partner and shook his head. “You know we’re gonna be too late, right?”

Rude frowned at him. “Don’t think like that. We’ve got a job to do and we’ll do it.”

Reno forced a smile and he shrugged. “You’re right. We’ll get to ‘em, yo.”

~*****************************~

Over an hour later, they were flying back towards the city when they finally spotted Zack. Unfortunately, the reason they spotted him in the first place was because what looked like the entire ShinRa army was spread out amongst the cliffs surrounding the Midgar area.

“Holy shit!” Reno exclaimed as he circled the helicopter around and assessed the situation. Zack was standing alone, facing the horde of militia.

“Looks like a couple of the other search teams are here, too,” Rude said, pointing off to the East.

Reno looked and saw two other helicopters. Not enough by a long shot to do anything to help Zack. Hell, they weren’t even supposed to BE on this retrieval mission and if the Turks tried to intervene now, he had no doubt the President would declare them traitors and have them all gunned down.

“Overkill, man…overkill.” Reno shook his head as he tried to count the vast army below.

“They don’t want to take any chances,” Rude guessed, “and you’ve seen how good Fair is in a fight. Hell, he might even win.”

Reno gave him an exasperated look. “You really are an optimist, partner. Face it, the target’s a dead man. I just wonder what happened to his blue-eyed friend.”

Tseng’s voice crackled over the comm. Unit. “Reno, Rude.”

“Yeah, boss.” Reno answered.

“Cissnei’s reported that she found the target, but there are…complications.”

Reno exchanged a grim look with Rude. “You got that right. We’re on the site too. ShinRa sent the whole damned army after these guys. I don’t know what we can do for ‘em, yo.”

Tseng was silent for a moment. “We can’t intervene,” he finally said in a heavy voice. “Just remain in the area now. There is a chance, however slim, that Zack may prevail. If he should happen to do so, you’re to retrieve him and his companion. Otherwise…give him a proper burial. I doubt the army intends to give him even that small courtesy.”

Reno rubbed his eyes and nodded. “You got it, Sir. Over.”

Rude noticed his companion wiping his eyes and he looked at him in concern.

~He’s trying to hide it but this is shaking him up. Hell, it’s shaking me up too. My throat feels like it’s trying to close up.~

They hovered in place near the two other Shinra helicopters, watching and waiting to see what would happen. Zack stood before his opposition for a moment and then he abruptly shouted something and charged, with his buster sword drawn. The army opened fire on him and he dodged and deflected bullets with his bulky sword. Reno and Rude stared in stupefied amazement as he charged into the ranks and began cutting down militia two, sometimes three at a time.

“Damn, he might live though this after all,” Reno said with wide eyes. For a few moments, he really believed that the black-haired fighter might win the encounter, but Zack was showing signs of weakness before long. There was no telling what was done to him while he was under Hojo’s control and Reno saw the signs of fatigue setting in. Fair’s determination gave him more energy than a man in his condition should have and he pressed on, cutting soldiers down left and right. He took more than one bullet in the process and Rude looked away when he began to stagger.

“Yo, switch to the Shinra army’s frequency so we can hear what’s going on behind the scenes,” Reno said. Rude did as he asked but there were no transmissions coming through so far.

After several more moments of desperate fighting, Zackary Fair finally fell to his knees. A transmission came through over the comm. Unit and the two witnessing Turks listened.

“Target’s going down but not destroyed yet. Orders?”

There was a crackle before the familiar voice of the President answered: “Withdraw the bulk of your forces. Leave a handful of your most competent marksmen to finish the job before reporting back to Headquarters. Send orders to Tseng to have his Turks withdraw as well and send a cleanup crew to deal with the bodies. The fugitive’s body is to be returned to the lab for study.”

Reno and Rude frowned at each other as what was left of the Shinra army dispersed and began to board the transport vehicles that had carried them there. Three were left behind to finish the job on Zackary, who was struggling back to his feet against all odds.

“This ain’t right,” Reno muttered through his teeth, feeling unwelcome emotions boiling to the surface. He didn’t even realize he’d started the chopper forward at a steep descent and had flipped up the air strike control panel. Rude put a large hand over his and shook his head.

“We can’t do anything, partner,” Rude said, trying to ease Reno’s hand away from the artillery button and keep him from making a mistake that would make them fugitives as well. Zack was a dead man and there was nothing they could do about it. He wasn’t about to let his partner martyr himself and neither would he testify against him to save his own ass from the President’s judgment. He felt the redhead’s hand tremble beneath his and he squeezed it. “Pull up, Red. We’re too low.”

Reno wasn’t sure what he’d been intending to do—open fire on the remaining Shinra soldiers or open fire on Zack to end it faster for him? He allowed his partner to pull his hand away from the weapon panel but it took him a moment longer to pull up. For a couple of wild seconds, he thought of having Rude toss a cable out of the cargo doors and shout at Zack to grab hold.

“Reno, you’re too close, man!” Rude shouted as the chopper passed so low over the three grunts advancing on Zack’s fallen form that the wind from it made them stagger.

The redhead snapped out of it and pulled back on the stick, forcing the helicopter to climb again and putting them back out of the danger of crashing. He spun the chopper around and hovered, unable to tear his eyes off of the scene on the cliff. Zack was lying on the ground now, and the lead soldier grunt approached and took aim. Reno and Rude both averted their eyes and winced as the weapon fired, though they couldn’t hear the shot over the sound of the rotors.

“Target neutralized. We’re searching the area for the other fugitive,” came the voice of one of the executioners over the radio.

Reno shut his eyes and cursed. His guess was that the blonde guy Zack escaped with was in no condition to put up a fight…otherwise he surely would have been at his friend’s side, fighting with him. He made himself look through the cockpit window and down at the scene of death below. Zack lay unmoving with a pool of blood slowly spreading beneath him. The bodies of the soldiers he’d taken down lay scattered around him and the three grunts that finished him off were searching the surrounding jags of cliff.

“I hope if the other guy’s there, they don’t find him,” Reno muttered, swallowing hard past the lump in his throat.

“Yeah,” Rude agreed in a slightly husky voice. The bald man’s jaw was tense as he too looked down at the scene they hovered over. “We should probably switch to our own channel again. The President wanted orders sent out for the Turks to withdraw.”

“Just a minute, yo,” Reno said as he rubbed his eyes again, “I wanna hear if they find anything in those rocks.”

Rude nodded, silently agreeing with him. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I just got some dirt in my eye or something,” Reno answered stubbornly. To his credit, if there were any tears welling in his eyes he was wiping them away before they were obvious. His nose was a little red though, so his slight-of-hand abilities only went so far to conceal his grief.

The other two helicopters departed but Reno stubbornly remained hovering while he and his partner waited to hear confirmation about the other refugee. After a few more tense moments, they were dubiously rewarded.

“We’ve located the secondary target,” one of the grunts reported, “but he’s already as good as dead, Sir. He can’t even raise his head, let alone talk. The earlier reports were right…he’s a vegetable. It’s a bad case of Mako poisoning.”

Reno exchanged another grim look with Rude, wondering if there would be a mercy killing or if Strife would end up loaded onto transport and brought back to Hojo for further experiments. It took a while for the President to respond—possibly because he was conversing with Hojo on the matter.

“Leave him for the carrion. He’s no use to us and if he can’t move or speak, he isn’t a threat. Return to your transport.”

Reno didn’t even wait to hear the reply from the soldier grunt. He angrily twisted the frequency knob back to his organization’s channel and listened to the other search parties relaying messages.

~The bastard can’t even spare the expense of a bullet to put the kid out of his misery. The day Old Man Shinra dies and Rufus takes over, we’ve got to have a motherfucking parade and a whole week of partying!~

“Mission failed,” Cissnei’s trembling voice said over the radio, “Turk teams are returning to Headquarters.”

Rude sighed. “I guess we should do the same. Those grunts down there are staring at us and we look pretty suspicious, hanging around like this.”

Reluctantly, Reno nodded and started to turn the chopper to navigate back to the city. Before he could finish the action, the secure channel for his helicopter crackled and Tseng’s voice spoke.

“Reno, Rude, do you copy?”

“Loud and clear, boss,” Reno said in a heavy voice. “Don’t worry, we’re heading back as ordered, yo. We just stayed until we were sure we couldn’t do what you ordered.”

“Actually, I have different orders for the two of you and Cissnei’s team. I want you to make it appear as if you’re leaving but circle back and return to give Fair a proper burial, before the cleanup crew arrives to take his body to be desecrated by Hojo. You probably can’t lay him to rest where he fell because they’ll simply excavate him from the ground when they see the fresh grave, so take him to a different location—near Kalm, perhaps. Retrieve Strife, as well. I’ve made arrangements in Mideel for his extended care. I’ve set up the pretext of sending you all on an unrelated mission, so as not to arouse suspicion.”

Reno relaxed a little, feeling a surge of gratitude and admiration for Tseng. “Right away, Sir.” He almost thanked him but he thought better of it. Tseng had always been fond of Zack Fair and it was his own feelings and his sense of honor that guided his decisions now. Thanking him for doing something he obviously thought was right would be pointless.

~*******************************~

They had to make a convincing show of leaving, so they made a wide circle around the borders of Midgar city before coming back. It took around forty-five minutes and they returned to the site of the battle before Cissnei’s team. They didn’t have much time to work before the cleanup team arrived, so Reno landed the chopper as quickly as he could and they hurried to the nearby scene. As they approached Zack’s still body, Reno pulled out his pack of cloves and selected one, pausing to light it up.

“For once, I’m glad you’re smoking one of those,” Rude said as he wrinkled his nose. He didn’t say it out loud out of respect for the dead, but the bodies were already starting to smell and the cigarette smoke helped to mask it.

They stopped at Zack’s body, looking down at him. The ground was still damp from the rain shower that had just died to a sprinkle. Most of the blood on the ground had been washed away during the time they were circling back, but some still seeped sluggishly from the wounds of the deceased. Zack’s raven hair was matted with blood and dirt. His pale lips were parted and his eyes were closed. There were several bullet holes in his clothing and one in his forehead. Reno looked away from it and took a deep drag on his cigarette.

“Sucks, man. He was an interesting guy…really decent, yo.” He sniffed and turned his head away from Rude, wiping his eyes again.

“We should look for his friend,” Rude said with a glance around. “the kid’s got to be nearby. Funny thing though…where’s Zack’s sword?”

Reno looked at the body and then scanned the ground around it. There was no sign of the Buster Sword. “Dunno, man. My guess is someone came along while we were away and snatched it.”

They heard an approaching helicopter and they scanned the skies together, searching for the source. Cissnei’s chopper crested the rise to the south and eased down near Reno’s. They waited as she and two other Turks they didn’t know very well emerged from the aircraft and approached, bringing a body bag with them. She hurried over and looked down at Zack’s body with wide brown eyes.

“We…were supposed to save him,” she said, her slight frame trembling and her small fists clenched at her side. “Tseng specifically told me to help him when I boarded the chopper…I can’t believe…we were too late.”

Reno sensed the emotions boiling beneath the surface in the girl and he reached out and pulled her to his chest. “Don’t look,” he murmured as he felt how badly she was shaking. He tossed his cigarette away and stroked her hair, muffling the sobs she was trying so hard to control against his chest. He looked at Rude and jerked his chin in the direction he thought Strife might be. The bald man nodded and went to search the nearby cliff walls and crevices while the other Turks hurried over with the body bag.

While Rude searched for Strife, Reno comforted Cissnei and the other Turks started rolling out the body bag to put Zack in. One of them hollered a startled curse and Reno turned to see what the matter was. He nearly yelled as well when he saw what was happening. There were phantasmal tendrils of green energy snaking up from the earth and swirling around Zack’s body. Cissnei pulled away from Reno and stared as well, putting a hand to her gasping mouth.

“What the hell’s going on?” Reno shouted.

“No idea!” One of the other Turks gasped.

Reno yanked his phone out of his blazer and looked away from the spectacle long enough to select Tseng’s number and hit the button to dial it. He didn’t waste time on formal greetings when Tseng answered his phone. “Hey boss, something really weird is happening to Zack.”

“What do you mean?” Tseng questioned.

“Well, there’s this green light coming out of the ground and its wrapping all around him like some kind of vines or something,” Reno explained in a rush. One of Zack’s hands faded out of existence before his eyes and he nearly dropped the phone. “Uh…okay…now he’s like…disappearing or something. What the hell…is this some new thing ShinRa’s come up with for getting rid of bodies or does it have to do with the experiments Hojo did on him?”

Tseng paused thoughtfully for a moment before answering. “Get a picture of it on your cell and send it to me.”

Reno took a couple of snapshots, his eyes round in his face as more and more of Zack faded out of existence. “Okay boss, I’ve got to hang up with you to send ‘em.”

“I’ll call you back when I’ve seen them. I have a feeling I know what’s going on, but I can’t be certain until I see it.”

“Okay, Sir. Talk to you in a few.” Reno cut the connection and sent the pictures to Tseng’s cellphone. He tapped his foot nervously as he waited for the Director to call him back. It only took a minute and Reno put the phone to his ear quickly. “Well? What do you think it is?” He asked anxiously before Tseng could even say anything.

“It seems the planet doesn’t want Hojo to get his hands on Zack’s body any more than we do,” Tseng answered with a touch of awe in his voice. “What you’re witnessing is Gaia reclaiming not only Zack’s spirit, but his body as well. It’s Lifestream, Reno. I’ve seen it before, but only once. Usually the Lifestream only claims the spirit of a deceased individual, returning it to the planet and eternal peace. It has no use for dead flesh and usually leaves it behind to nourish other living things.”

Reno furrowed his brow. “Are you telling me the planet’s eating Zack?”

“No,” Tseng responded in a soothing voice, “It isn’t ‘eating’ him, Reno. It’s taking him out of our realm and into the next, where he belongs, now. He’ll join his ancestors and all of his deceased loved ones, there. Do you understand?”

Reno watched the rest of Zack’s body vanish under the caress of Lifestream and he swallowed. “I guess, but why is it absorbing his body?”

“I can’t claim to know exactly but as I said before, I believe the planet doesn’t want Hojo using Zack’s remains for his devices. I’m certain that Gaia doesn’t approve of all of the things he’s done…or the things our Company has done, for that matter.”

Reno shook his head. “So the planet’s aware? Like we are?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes,” Tseng answered. “Now isn’t the time for spiritual lessons, though. All you need to do now is find Cloud Strife and take him to Mideel. The Lifestream is taking care of the matter of Zack’s remains for us.”

“Okay, boss,” Reno sighed, blinking as Zack vanished completely and the green light faded. “Rude’s looking for him now…” Reno looked around for his partner and jumped a little when he found the bald man standing right beside him. Rude was staring at the spot where Zack laid a moment ago, standing as still as a statue.

“Uh, Rude?” Reno said, waving a hand over the bigger man’s eyes. “Yo, did you find Strife or not? I’ve got Tseng on the phone here and we’re gonna have to motor soon.”

Rude came out of his trance and looked at the redhead. “The other fugitive is nowhere to be seen. It’s like he vanished, too.”

“Maybe he died before we could get here and the same thing happened to him that happened to Zack?” Cissnei suggested as she dabbed her eyes.

Tseng heard the conversation. “You can’t locate him?”

Reno started to answer but then his sharp eyes noticed something near where Zack’s body vanished. “Hold on a sec,” he said as he stepped closer. It was faint due to the rain washing most of it away, but there were tracks. They appeared to be moving away from the spot and there was a shallow line gouged in the earth next to them, as if something had been dragged. Reno followed the tracks slowly, examining them carefully as he moved. He stopped and raised his eyes, visually following the tracks as they meandered down a trail leading to the flats around Midgar.

Then he spotted him: A tiny figure in the distance, trudging along in a manner that screamed exhaustion. He was dragging something behind him and Reno narrowed his eyes as the object glinted in the light.

“I’ve found our missing blonde,” Reno said into the cell while he motioned the others to join him on the edge of the cliff. “He gets around pretty damned good for a vegetable. He’s dragging his ass and Zack’s sword straight to the city, yo.”

The others stared at the distant figure. “Are we going after him?” Rude questioned.

“Tseng, it’s your call,” Reno said, “Do we go after him or leave him alone?”

Tseng didn’t answer right away. He was silent for a couple of moments, probably trying to decide what to do. “You say he’s walking on his own and dragging Zackary’s sword?” He sounded slightly amazed. “I’ve never heard of anyone with Mako poisoning as severe as his getting up and walking away.”

Reno shrugged. “Yeah, he’s making pretty good time, too. Must be a pretty tough kid, yo.”

Tseng sighed. “Leave him. As far as the Company is concerned, he’s dead and if he’s up and moving around then there’s no point in taking him to Mideel for specialist care. We can try to keep an eye on him once he reaches the city but for now I want you and the others to leave the site of the battle and return here. The Company cleanup crew is on their way and when they find Zack’s body gone, there will be inquiries. I don’t want them seeing you on the scene.”

“Right,” answered Reno, “We’ll move it out now. See you at Headquarters.”

~********************************~

Yo, I’ve seen some pretty strange things in my life but watching Zack Fair’s body dissolve like that ranks up there as one of the strangest. Even so, it made me feel a little better to watch the planet take him back. It was like a weight lifting from my shoulders. Rude seemed more relaxed, too. Cissnei took it hardest of all, though. I think she had a bigger crush on him than she even knew, man. She was like a zombie for days after that and Tseng finally gave her time off to grieve. She ended up going to Gognaga where Zack was born and spending time with his parents, but I don’t know if she told them what happened to him or not.

We had people on the lookout for the blonde guy but we didn’t find him right away. Tseng still had Aerith under watch and he told me he was afraid we’d have to bring her into HQ soon, ‘cause that freak Hojo was ranting about failed experiments and he and the Pres were having heads together about some business with the Promised Land. It sounded more and more like they wanted the last ‘Ancient’ for more experiments. Tseng didn’t look happy about it when he talked to me and who could blame him? It was pretty obvious he was attached to the chick.

A few months later we had to put a few things on hold—including looking for Strife—because someone blew up the Sector one Mako reactor. Now how do you like that? Reports said it was some terrorist group called AVALANCHE and Old Man Shinra was major pissed, yo. Rufus was sent to Junon and we were ordered to help with the investigation and track down the bombers.

AVALANCHE hit the Sector five reactor next but President Shinra was expecting them that time. He went there himself with some troops and a mechanized attack unit but they got away. I was checking in on Aerith when this all happened and that’s when I met a familiar face in person for the first time, yo.

~************************************~

-To be continued