Thanks for the memories

“Thanks for the Memories”
A Reno fan fiction
Chapter 22: “Remnants”
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*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.*
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It was tough to keep my emotions under control, I don’t deny it. Rufus handled the news that he basically had a death sentence well. Yo, it took a lot to shake up a guy like him. When I asked him what he wanted us to do, he said to just keep doing business as usual. He’s got balls of steel, man. The medication they put him on helped control the seizures and manage his pain but he ended up wearing a patch over his infected eye, because it made him dizzy to look through it when the spells happened.

We all took turns taking care of him as he lost more of his strength. When he finally ended up in a wheelchair I had to hide in the bathroom, cause I started crying like a fucking baby. Since he couldn’t make it up and down the stairs anymore, Rufus ended up having to be moved to one of the med lodges in town. I was already mourning him and he knew it. He could see it in my eyes and in every damn move I made.

“I’m not dead yet,” he said one morning. After that I tried to just appreciate the time I had left with him instead of constantly thinking about what it was going to be like when he was gone, yo. I’d pretty much accepted things when we got a call from Reeve. We’d told him about Rufus getting infected and it turned out the witty bastard was doing research the whole time. Yeah, he’s an engineer and not a doctor or a biologist, but Reeve had the right connections to the right people and he came up with a theory that might save Rufus’s life.

He said that the Geostigma was caused by an infection of Jenova cells, yo. The symptoms were caused when people’s bodies struggled to fight off the invading cells, so he thought if we could get our hands on a piece of Jenova, the science team might be able to find a cure or a vaccine for it. The only problem was that there was only one piece left of the bitch we could think of that hadn’t been absorbed into the Lifestream—her head. Sephiroth had her head with him when Cloud chucked him into the reactor and he ended up drifting in the Lifestream to the crater. With any luck, the head might still be there.

Tseng ordered Rude to stay in Healin and protect Rufus while the rest of us took the chopper to the Northern Crater to look for the spook’s head. We sure as hell didn’t expect to get company while we were in there, yo.

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“Ugh…not a pretty sight, is it?” Elena’s voice came through the comm. Unit and Reno rolled his eyes.

“Just get the damned thing so we can go,” he grumbled.

“Reno, the chopper,” Tseng ordered.

“On my way, yo.” Reno flew the helicopter into the misty depths of the crater, keeping an eye on the tracking screen to locate his companions. He found them several minutes later and touched down on the uneven, rocky ground. Tseng and Elena were approaching and the Wutaian was carrying the black container he’d placed what was left of Jenova’s head into. Reno peered into the ghostly mist behind the other two Turks, thinking he saw movement.

“Yo, hurry up guys,” he said into the mic, “I’m starting to think we ain’t alone down here.”

“There’s nobody else arou—“ Elena began to say, but shots suddenly rang out and she screamed as she was hit in the leg.

“Elena!” Tseng shouted, drawing his gun as he turned to defend her. Three figures were approaching out of the mist.

“Who the hell is that?” Reno said. He opened the pilot’s side door and motioned for his companions to hurry.

Tseng looked to the approaching menace, then his fallen partner. His dark eyes met Reno’s across the distance and the redhead saw the decision in them.

“Don’t do it, man,” Reno pleaded, but the black-haired Turk threw the container at him and shouted for him to get out of there.

“That’s a direct order, Reno,” Tseng shouted when the redhead caught the container and shook his head at him. “Go! The mission can’t fail!”

More gunfire echoed through the cavern and Tseng squatted at Elena’s side and returned fire.

“Damn!” Reno growled as he slammed the door and lifted off. He listened to the sounds of battle and clenched his free hand into a fist as he looked down at the cursed item he’d set in the empty passenger seat. There was another scream from Elena and a rare swear word from Tseng, then static.

Reno had to fight the instinctive urge to go back and try to help them. Tseng was right and as fast as the mystery attackers took down the Wutaian and Elena, all that Reno would probably accomplish was to get captured or killed with them and lose the key to saving Rufus’s life. He called Rude and told him what happened as he flew out of the crater and set a course for Healin.

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“You did the right thing,” Rude told Reno when the redhead arrived and brought the item to the med lodge that Rufus was staying in.

“I know, but it doesn’t make it any easier,” the redhead sighed.

He followed Rude into the bedroom of the med lodge. Rufus was awake and getting into his wheelchair when they came in. He coughed softly and looked up at Reno expectantly.

“I got the head, yo,” Reno said as he held the container up. “But someone attacked us and Tseng ordered me to go without ‘em. I don’t know if they’re alive or dead, sir.”

“Did you see your attackers?” Rufus asked. There was a hint of concern in his voice but otherwise he was cool and calm as usual.

“No sir. Whoever they were, they were strong. All I know is it looked like there were three of ‘em and I guess Tseng figured if I tried to stay behind and help we might lose the head.” Reno lowered his eyes and grimaced. “I’m sorry, boss.”

“There’s no reason to be sorry,” Rufus sighed. “Clearly, someone else wanted Jenova’s remains as well. Chances are that when they’ve finished with Tseng and Elena they’ll be coming after us. What we need is some extra muscle, I’m afraid—someone with exceptional strength to help us keep the specimen secured until it can be researched.”

Reno and Rude looked at each other, both of them thinking of the same guy. “How about Cloud Strife, boss?” Reno asked. “It’s kind of a long shot but if anyone could talk him into it, you could.”

Rufus considered it and he nodded his consent. “Contact him and request a meeting. In the meantime, we’ve got to keep the specimen safely hidden.” He thought for a moment with narrowed eyes and looked at the bed sheets. “I’ve got an idea.”

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Reno found Strife’s business ad in the phone book and he dialed the number and tapped his foot while he waited for Cloud to pick up. The Turks had been keeping an eye on the blonde since he stopped Meteor and Sephiroth, and Reno knew he was living with Tifa and a bunch of orphans. He thought it was a waste for someone with Cloud’s skills to pick a career as a delivery boy but at least it made it easier to find him. A feminine voice answered instead of Strife’s and he recognized it as belonging to Tifa. He interrupted her partway through her rehearsed business greeting.

“Yo, cute stuff. Remember me?” He grinned as he imagined the look on the brunette’s face.

“Oh, I remember you all right,” she said in a less than enthusiastic tone. “If you’re after a delivery, you’ll have to wait. Cloud hasn’t been around lately and I don’t know when he’ll be back.”

Reno swore softly and Tifa heard it. “Is everything okay?” she asked, her voice reluctantly concerned.

“Yeah, I’ve just got a job offer for him. Think you could try to get in touch with him for me and ask him to come to Healin when he’s got the time?”

She sighed. “I can’t promise anything but I’ll get the message to him for you.”

“Thanks, sweetheart. Catch you later, yo.” He hung up the phone and replaced it in his blazer.

“He’s not around,” Reno explained to Rude, “I guess he’s not enjoying the family life so much. Tifa said she’d try to get the message to him but I’m not gonna hold my breath, yo.”

Rude frowned. “We may need to look somewhere else for help. The boss is going to need more bodyguards if he’s serious about keeping Jenova’s head on him.”

Reno shuddered. “Man, I don’t like the thought of him carting that damn thing around in his lap. It’s what started this fucking plague in the first place.”

Rude shrugged. “He can’t get more infected than he already is. We just have to trust him. I think he knows what he’s doing.”

The door opened and the two Turks went silent as Rufus drove his electric wheelchair into the den. “My ears are burning,” the President said with dry humor when he noticed how silent they were.

Reno looked at his boss, who had a sheet draped over his body under the pretext of hiding his condition from view. His infection wasn’t bad enough to really warrant it, but it enabled him to keep Jenova’s head on him and hidden from view. “I just tried to reach Strife but I didn’t have any luck,” Reno said, “Hopefully Tifa will get hold of him for us, yo.”

“I suppose there’s no use worrying about it now,” Rufus said. “All that we can do is sit back and wait.

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And wait, they did. Reno’s phone rang three hours later and the redhead glanced at the number on the ID and did a double-take. Rufus and Rude watched in puzzlement as the redhead put the phone to his ear with wide eyes.

“Tseng?!” Reno said, his heart in his throat.

“Tseng can’t talk right now,” answered an unfamiliar, youthful male voice. “but I can. You’re the loud redhead, am I right?”

Reno’s sea-green eyes were glaring as he clenched his jaw. “Who the fuck is this, yo? Where’s Tseng?”

“Tseng and Elena are somewhere you won’t find them, Reno. You might want to be careful how you talk to me.”

Reno’s hand tightened on the phone. “What did you do to them, asshole?”

“We gave them what they deserve, of course,” answered the man. “See, my brothers and I are looking for Mother and we know that you and your friends took her from us. If you want to see the Wutaian and the blonde woman alive again, you’d better tell us where Mother is.”

Reno looked at Rufus’s covered lap and he swallowed, guessing that the freak on the other line must be talking about Jenova’s head because otherwise his demands made absolutely no sense. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, kid. Do you have any idea who you’re fucking with, here?”

“There’s no need to shout,” the kid said in a sadistically playful voice. “I think you do have Mother there and she’d better be ready for us when we come to pick her up.”

Reno felt the color drain from his face, but his anger was greater than his fear. “Yo, the only thing you’ll get if you come here is a busted skull, you little prick.” He thought he could hear motorcycles faintly in the background and he frowned, wondering where the mystery caller could be.

“I don’t want to talk to you anymore,” the young man said in an annoyed voice. “Put the President on.”

Reno almost refused, but knowing Rufus’s talking skills there was a chance the blonde could get more information out Tseng and Elena’s captor. He handed the phone to Rufus, who frowned at him before putting it to his ear.

“This is Rufus Shinra,” the President said.

“Well hello, sir!” answered the young man on the other line, “My name is Kadaj and you’ve got our Mother.”

Rufus pulled the phone away from his ear for a moment and gave it a comical look of bewilderment before putting it back to his ear. “This is either the poorest prank I’ve ever had the displeasure of experiencing, or you’re quite heavily medicated. I believe you have the wrong number, Kadaj.” Before the boy could respond, Rufus pushed the “end” button and handed the phone back to Reno.

“Uh, sir…he was calling from Tseng’s phone,” Reno informed him as he took the cell back.

Rufus nodded. “So I noticed. I refuse to speak with someone who can’t form a coherent sentence. Perhaps when he calls back, he’ll take me seriously enough to make some sense.”

Reno and Rude exchanged a shrug between each other, both of them thinking the President’s logic wasn’t entirely solid.

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Late in the afternoon, Reno was having a cigarette outside when he spotted a familiar blonde riding up the trail on an impressive, black motorcycle. He stubbed his cigarette out and went inside to let Rufus and Rude know. Rude took Rufus into the bedroom and Reno waited in the den. The door started to open without anyone knocking and Reno immediately jumped to the attack, thinking Strife would have knocked first and fearing that the person coming in was Kadaj or one of his gang.

Cloud sidestepped his attack and Reno overbalanced and ended up outside. He turned around and intended to charge back in, but Cloud slammed the door in his face and locked it.

“Okay, so you’re good,” Reno sighed. “Yo, I thought you were someone else, man. Lemme in!”

Rude came out of the bedroom and eyed Cloud warily. He started to shift into a fighting stance but the blonde leveled a huge, wicked-looking sword at him, just inches from his face. Rude forced himself to relax and Rufus wheeled out of the bedroom, softly praising Cloud.

“You once claimed to be a 1st class Soldier,” Rufus said while Cloud’s vivid blue eyes stared at him narrowly. “It’s good to see you haven’t lost your touch.”

“Rufus Shinra?” Cloud said with surprise. He looked at Rude and grimaced. “Man, I feel sorry for you guys.”

Rude started to react to the insult but Rufus stayed him with his hand and the bald man grunted instead.

“I escaped the explosion—” Rufus began.

“What do you want from me?” Cloud interrupted.

“…I managed to get out—” The President tried to continue.

“Who were the guys that attacked me?” Cloud interrupted again.

“…before the building collapsed—” Rufus trailed off in confusion. Strife was interrupting him so fast that their words were clashing together and he wondered what he meant with the question about the attack.

“I’m leaving!” Cloud interrupted again.

“We need your assistance, Cloud,” Rufus said, trying to stall the blonde fighter.

“Not interested,” Cloud said as he turned to go.

“We’re trying to set things right,” Rufus persisted. “I realize that the world is in such a sorry state largely because of my company’s actions. I would like to try and correct that, but in order to do so I need assistance.”

“Yo, I’m still out here!” Reno hollered. Cloud kicked the door in annoyance to shut him up and he reluctantly listened to Rufus talk.

“Our first step was to investigate the Northern Cave.” Rufus said. Cloud hesitated and looked uncertain, but Rufus wasn’t sure that blonde could be persuaded to help, so he decided not to tell him about Jenova’s head until he got verbal agreement from him. “You can relax. We didn’t find anything. However, our search was interrupted by three men. You mentioned something about being attacked yourself. I wonder if it could be the same men that assaulted my Turks. Kadaj and his gang are quite unstable.”

Recognition lit Cloud’s eyes and Rufus knew his guess was correct. “It seems that Kadaj doesn’t want us to finish what we started. Really, I can’t imagine what he could be thinking.”

“They were saying something about ‘Mother’ to me,” Cloud admitted with a frown. “Does that mean anything to you?”

“Hmm, ‘Mother’,” Rufus said thoughtfully, considering the object he had hidden under the sheets. “It’s very strange. He mentioned something of the sort to us, as well. There are a lot of orphans who miss their parents, Cloud. Perhaps Kadaj and his gang lost theirs and they blame us.”

“But what does that have to do with me?” Cloud said with a dubious frown.

“You know us, don’tcha?” Reno said through the door. “Guilt by association, yo.”

Cloud kicked the door again and grimaced.

“Cloud look,” Rufus reasoned, “You’re really all we have, and it would be in our best interest to hire a little muscle. You’re a former Soldier, aren’t you? Would it really be so bad to go back to your roots for a while and help ShinRa, when the result could benefit everyone who’s suffering and dying?”

“I was only a Soldier in my head,” Cloud grumbled as he turned around and opened the door. “I make deliveries now.”

Reno stood in his way and he smiled at the blonde engagingly. “Come on Cloud…we could rebuild ShinRa.”

Rufus groaned inwardly, seeing Cloud tense. That was the wrong thing to say to convince the fighter to help. Cloud glared at the redhead and shoved past him.

“Reno,” sighed Rufus in exasperation. The redhead winced and gave him an apologetic look as he walked through the door and closed it behind him, locking it for good measure.

“Sorry boss…I shouldn’t have said that to him. I’m not as subtle as you.” Reno knelt in front of Rufus’s wheelchair and put a hand on his knee. “Want us to try and go after him?”

Rufus shook his head. “That would only make him more determined to refuse, I’m afraid. We’ll simply have to do the best we can with what’s available to us.”

Reno winced. They were short two Turks and even if they called more from other parts of the world to come and help, they probably wouldn’t make it before Kadaj tracked them down.

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The sun was just beginning to set when the door burst open for the second time that day. Reno was sitting on the couch beside Rude and the two of them jumped to their feet and reached for their weapons as a young man with shoulder-length silver hair charged in, wielding a double-bladed sword. Reno charged his EMR and launched an attack against the stranger. He hesitated briefly when he saw the young man’s eyes, his mind reeling with shock. They were emerald green and for a moment, the pupils appeared slitted.

Reno had no time to ponder what he’d seen. The silver-haired teenager dodged his attack and kicked him hard enough to send him sprawling across the floor. He groaned and picked himself up, warning Rufus to get into the bedroom. The President didn’t move, knowing that it would do him no good to do as Reno asked. Rude managed to score a hit on the teenager but his weapon flew out of his hand and skittered across the floor as he blocked the other man’s swinging sword. He leaped aside as the young man slashed at him again, narrowly avoiding being eviscerated.

Reno yelled and charged again, this time succeeding in scoring a blow on the stranger’s shoulder before he was again knocked down. He hit his head hard on the wooden floor and he lost consciousness. Rude soon joined him as the stranger bested him and Rufus watched tensely as the black leather-clad teenager stepped gracefully over the bodies of his Turks and approached him.

“Kadaj, I presume,” Rufus said.

The teenager smiled at him. But for the madness in his eyes, he was quite fetching—practically beautiful, in fact. “I really hate liars,” the young man stated as he stopped before the President and gazed down at him.

“My apologies,” Rufus said politely, “This time you’ll get the truth. The object you’re seeking was lost when my people retreated from you in the crater. I’m afraid they were careless.”

“Is that right?” Kadaj said in a bored tone.

“I swear it,” promised the President.

Kadaj shrugged. “Fine. Then swear on these.” He tossed something to floor at Rufus’s feet and the blonde recognized Tseng and Elena’s ID cards. Both of them were soiled with dried splatters of blood and Rufus clenched his hands into fists.

“Why did you do this?” Rufus asked in a low, dangerous tone. He was only a moment away from drawing his hidden gun and firing at that smug, ethereal face.

Kadaj began to explain and what at first sounded like sheer insanity began to make a horrible kind of sense to Rufus. The moment the boy mentioned the word “reunion” and his pupils stretched into slits, the blonde understood what he and his gang were. Remnants. They were, quite literally, created from Sephiroth’s consciousness and Jenova’s cells. If they got their hands on Jenova’s head the nightmare would begin all over again. Geostigma was a conscious effort on Jenova’s part to bring Sephiroth back to life, and Kadaj and his ‘brothers’ were the harbingers of that event.

“I’m afraid I can’t help you,” Rufus said calmly after Kadaj finished speaking.

Kadaj’s features twisted into a snarl. “Then I suppose I’ll just have to use more creative methods to find Mother. Don’t get too comfortable, sir. I’ll be coming back for you sooner or later.”

Kadaj walked away then, surprising Rufus. Clearly the young man was as mad as Sephiroth had been and he doubted his “brothers” were any saner. When the teenager was gone, Rufus wheeled himself to Reno and struggled out of his chair to kneel beside him.

“Reno,” he murmured. He heard Rude groan so he knew the bald man at least was coming out of it. He shook Reno gently and swallowed the fear in his chest. Rude crawled over to him and added his efforts to wake his partner up. After a while, Reno’s eyes finally fluttered open and blinked up at the two of them in confusion.

“Where is the fucker,” the redhead asked, immediately trying to struggle into a sitting position.

“He’s gone,” Rufus assured him, pressing down on Reno’s shoulders to make him be still. “Just relax for a moment. I’m going to call a doctor to come and look at the two of you.”

“He left?” Reno said with a frown. “So what, did he just barge in here to kick our asses and gloat at you? I don’t get it.”

“I’ll explain everything after you’ve been examined,” Rufus answered. “You’re no good to me if you’re too injured to fight.” He smirked at the redhead as Reno gave him a look that said he knew Rufus was more worried about him than he was letting on.

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After the doctor came and looked us over, Rufus told us everything Kadaj said to him and then he sent us to find Cloud. I didn’t want to leave him alone but he told me if Kadaj came back for him again he’d just play along and cooperate with him to buy some time. Yo, I could tell he was working on a plan but the boss never lets people in on his plans until he’s finished making them.

We flew to Edge and went to the house Cloud was living in, but nobody was there, yo. Even the orphans living with him and Tifa were gone. The first place I could think of to check in the city was the old church that Aerith used to hang out in. We found him there but Strife was conked out in the flower bed with Tifa. I figured the remnants beat them up too. Me and Rude carried them out of there and brought ‘em home.

Cloud was a big ball of angst when he came too. I’ve never seen anybody brood like that before, yo. He was worried about the kids but he didn’t have any motivation to go and find them, so we offered to look for ‘em because we figured if we helped him with that, he might change his mind about helping us.

It wasn’t easy. We had to ask around to get the information and we found out Kadaj’s gang loaded up a bunch of infected kids and claimed they were going to cure ‘em of Geostigma. After poking around some more we found someone that overheard one of ‘em mention the Forgotten City, so we hopped into the chopper again and flew there.

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

There wasn’t a thing they could do for the kids. Reno and Rude hid and watched as Kadaj convinced all of the infected kids to drink from the stream he’d corrupted. Without backup, the two Turks didn’t have a chance of stopping them. Reno silently motioned for Rude and the two of them quietly crept away and moved toward the back of the city.

“If Strife would snap out of his emo crap, he could probably handle this,” Reno sighed as he and Rude started on the path leading out of the ruined city. “I don’t know what the fuck’s the matter with him, yo.”

Rude considered it and he noticed something about Cloud’s lethargy that he hadn’t thought of before. “He’s acting the way Rufus started acting when the infection started getting to him,” he said.

Reno stopped and stared at his partner, his mind going over little details about Strife that were slightly off, like the single sleeve he wore over his left arm. Reno had thought that was a weird fashion statement but Rude’s observation gave it a chilling new meaning. “Yo, do ya think he’s got the stigma too?”

“It would explain a few things,” Rude answered with a shrug. “I guess we won’t know unless he tells us, though.”

Reno opened his mouth to say something in response to that but something red and billowy suddenly dropped down in front of them. Both Turks tensed and reached for their weapons, but they recognized Vincent Valentine and they hesitated warily.

“I have something of yours,” the dark gunman said abruptly, his crimson eyes cold and emotionless.

The Turks exchanged a suspicious look between them. “Yeah?” Reno said. “Like what?”

“Your missing comrades,” Vincent answered. He gestured for them to follow and he began walking away, toward a set of houses at the back of the city.

“Yo, you’ve got Tseng and Elena?” Reno asked as he and Rude followed. “How’d you manage that?”

“Very carefully,” answered the raven-haired shapeshifter without breaking his stride. “I healed their wounds as best as I could, but it would be wise of you to get them medical attention as quickly as you can.”

He led them into one of the houses and up the stairs to the small bedroom. Tseng and Elena were both resting on separate single beds. Reno and Rude anxiously looked them over, taking note of the freshly closed scars on various parts of their bodies. It looked like Kadaj had played a carving game with their flesh and Reno swore violently and stroked Tseng’s tangled hair.

“I’ll help you get them to your transportation,” Vincent offered.

“Why’d you help ‘em, man?” Reno asked the gunner suspiciously.

Vincent’s ruby gaze was steady on him. “Perhaps because I was once a Turk as well. Some loyalties from my former life still remain.”

Reno’s eyebrows shot up with surprise. “You were a Turk? What the hell happened to you?”

“Hojo,” Vincent said simply. “It was far before your time.”

Reno grimaced. It seemed like a lot of shit always came down to Hojo. He was glad the twisted bastard was dead. “We’d better get them out of here and get back to the boss, yo.”

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

We took Tseng and Elena to Junon and brought ‘em to the hospital there. We didn’t want to take them back to Healin, since Kadaj was probably going to show up there again and the last thing either of them needed was to get caught by that sicko again. After we checked them into the hospital we flew back to Edge and told Cloud where his orphans were. He tried to get us to take care of it but we told him to get off his ass and do it himself.

By the time we got back to Healin, Rufus was nowhere to be found. Rude found a scrap of paper on the floor by the boss’s bed and it had a single word written on it in Rufus’s handwriting: “Edge”. How do you like that? We’d just come from there and it looked like psycho boy was taking him there.

We fueled up the chopper again and took off for Edge. On the way there we got a call from Elena. She and Tseng were awake and feeling strong enough to lend a hand, yo. I had some doubts about that but at this point, every little bit counted. I told her where we thought Rufus was and she said they’d get there as soon as they could to help us rescue him.

Some days, you just wish you never got out of bed, yo.

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

-To be continued