Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Between the Lines ❯ Mirror, Mirror on the Wall ( Chapter 11 )

Between the Lines

 

Description: What happened to Reno and Rude in Advent Children during the times they were off camera. How and why they showed up where they did when they did. Rated T for language and descriptions of torture.

 

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and its characters are the property of Square-Enix. Everything in this fic is just speculation on my part. I have no insider information. I also have no money, so suing me would be pointless.

 

Eleven: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

 

The automatic doors had not even closed behind them before a worried woman in white approached at a run, taking her own life in her hands by clutching Rude's arm.

 

"Thank goodness you're here!" she spluttered. "The woman, she's awake and very angry. She's threatening to kill everyone in the hospital! We don't know what to do!"

 

"Kill everyone? That doesn't sound like Elena," Reno commented, unaffected by the nurse's panic.

 

Rude fixed his steady gaze on the woman and preceded to pry her fingers from him as he asked, "Has she said why she's so angry?"

 

"Um, something about getting her a uniform. The old one was all bloody and torn," she continued defensively. "And all patients must wear a gown until discharged. It's hospital policy. But she refuses to listen!"

 

"Oh for the love of …" Rude pushed past her and threw open the main door, ignoring the protests from the gangly young man at the check-in desk. The nurse scurried after Rude, leaving Reno alone to laugh at the image of an irate Elena in a hospital gown.

 

"So," he commented once the door had slammed shut again, "I'll stay here then, shall I?" When no answer came -- other than the disapproving looks of the others in the room -- he shrugged and wandered over to the window.

 

To his surprise, he discovered that someone had relocated the plant he had previously doused to the windowsill. It sat in a small patch of sun, hatless, looking half-dead. And yet the remaining half clearly still clung to life, fighting a seemingly-hopeless battle but refusing to surrender.

 

Just like this pathetic city, or rather, like the people who live in it. The frigging sky fell in on them, but they're still here. Still holding down jobs, getting married, having kids. Kids that ooze black death. And yet they fight for something close to normal. They did it in the slums, and they do it here, in this ugly, depressed, lifeless town.

 

Reno turned at the waist to run his eyes over the scattered few in the waiting room. A little girl in the corner caught his attention; she was very intently moving a stack of magazines from the left side of an end table to the right side, one magazine at a time. Once she had a tall tower, she paused and smiled at Reno before beginning again, this time from right to left.

 

Reno noticed she had no visible signs of the stigma. Not yet. Unbidden, the voice of Morgan entered his mind. "Female. Aged two years. Mild stigma symptoms in the lower arm. The early stage of the disease makes her an excellent test subject. We'll do the standard injections at first with the possibility of an upgrade later depending on her reaction …"

 

Reno shook his head violently. What was wrong with him? He never gave a damn about Morgan's experiments before. Never cared who the people were who fed his scientific curiosity. Never thought of them as people at all. But hearing Morgan talking about Tseng and Elena as if they were just objects -- and hearing Rufus let him -- had opened a door in his brain and allowed a host of horrors to come inside.

 

What if it had been me? Would I have woken up with a whole bunch of "new and improved" body parts? Would I have woken up at all? What if Rufus hadn't been there to keep Morgan in check? Would he have gone ahead and altered Tseng and Elena without their permission? How many others has he altered or experimented on without permission? Why the hell does it matter to me?

 

I'm career ShinRa. A Turk. I've killed thousands I never saw with the push of a button, and I've also killed many one-on-one, watching the light go out in their eyes as they died. Reno, do this job. Yes, sir. Reno, do that job. Yes, sir. It didn't matter what it was or who it was. It was a job, and I did it.

 

But now … ?

 

He looked again at the little girl. She had discovered the waiting room's supply of brochures and had also somehow acquired a pen. Four copies of the same pill advertisement lay in a ring around her, and she was happily connecting the bullet point dots that listed the medicine's finer aspects. Reno finally noticed her mother, sitting nearby and watching her child with a smile full of love and gentle amusement.

 

Two beings struggling for life in a dismal world.

 

And I'm part of the force trying to stop them. Jenova, Sephiroth, Geostigma, Kadaj. All from ShinRa's mixture of curiosity, lust for power, and disregard for life.

 

Maybe I should quit. Reno blinked. Where had that thought come from? Quit? What would he do? Probably get a "real" job. Maybe get married, have some kids, grow old with a family who loved him.

 

But even as the thoughts appeared, something deep within Reno rebelled. Yeah right. Like any decent woman would have me. And I hate kids. Sure, she's cute and looks well-behaved, but you can't exactly choose which one you get or send it back if you don't like it.

 

And give up being a Turk? Never. Rude and I have too much history -- and too much fun. Yeah, we don't always do the nicest things, but we have Cloud and Tifa and their bunch of goody-goodies to clean up after us. Besides, what's the point of struggling if there's nothing to struggle against?

 

A wide, satisfied grin crept over Reno's face. I'm a Turk. For good, for bad, forever. And anyone who doesn't like it can go fuck themselves. Unless she's good-looking; then I'll help.

 

Reno looked at the lonely plant for a long moment. Then, he crossed the room, removed the coffee pot from the machine, walked back to the plant, and poured the entire pot over it.

 

"Fight harder."

 

"What are you doing?" Rude had returned without Reno noticing and now stood with folded arms and raised eyebrow a few steps away. "Or should I even ask?"

 

Reno grinned. "I'm reaffirming my identity."

 

"I see. Well, as soon as you're done, we should go."

 

"Sounds good." He headed towards the door, dropping the pot into a shocked elderly man's lap as he passed.

 

Outside and on the move once more, Reno asked, "So I take it you sorted out our rampaging princess and her wardrobe problem?"

 

"Yes," Rude answered succinctly.

 

"Good."

 

They walked the rest of the way to the square in silence, Reno content just to be with his partner. All doubts had vanished, and he was once again merrily bubbling with joyful self-confidence. No matter what happens, I know who I am, and that at least will never change.