Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Counterfeit God; Part I ❯ Chapter 9
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Shiratori-Strife Inc 
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.02.2006 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.2K | Visits: 162 | Status: Completed
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.02.2006 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.2K | Visits: 162 | Status: Completed
9
“Sweetheart, you can’t always believe what you see on that crazy television. You know that not everything on that is truth,”
Morghann jolted as she awoke from the dream, only catching the last words of something her mother had said to her a long time ago when she was a child. The dream was already gone, but something inside of her had started to set off warning bells. Confused by this because she didn’t know why she felt as if she should be on her guard, she pushed herself up on her elbows and yawned deeply. The nap had been nice, but it would have been better if Reno had been back when she’d woken up.
“Your dad is just…well, what can I say?” She looked down at her stomach when she felt her baby move and grimaced. “Does this mean that you’re going to be active today?”
There was a knock on her door, followed by a familiar male voice calling her name, “Morghann?”
“Just a second, Vincent,” Rising carefully from her bed, Morghann moved towards the door to see what Vincent needed from her.
“Did I wake you?”
“No,” She smiled as she stepped into the hallway. “Was already awake. Is something wrong?”
“I’m not sure. Shinra’s about to make an announcement on TV. I thought you might want to see it,”
The warning bells were screaming in her head but now even louder than before. It was killing her that she didn’t really know why, save for the fact that where Shinra was involved, Reno was likely to be mixed up in it, but she’d promised not to nag him about it even though he’d told her that he’d already made his decision. Maybe this was the announcement that he’d been talking about that would let her know his decision? She started hoping that, if this was the announcement, that she was ready for it.
---
He wanted to run away as far and as fast as he could. That’s the impulse feeling he got from being near this reporter woman. There was just something sinister in those dark eyes that mingled on the border of insanity and cruelty. Then again, Reno had never really been a fan of reporters. None of them were very trustworthy, and that counted some times with close friends who were reporters.
Anything for a good story…
“So, tell me, Reno, what is your take on this announcement of Shinra’s reconstruction? Why have you chosen to bow out from this event?”
Something in her voice matched the gleam in her eyes and Reno had the urge to sew his lips shut just to keep from having to talk to the woman. She just felt…wrong.
“Well…it’s a big step for the Shinra Company and I wish Rufus good luck, however, my family is the most important thing to me right now. I can’t afford distractions,”
“Really?” The woman smiled in the strangest of ways causing a chill to run up and down Reno’s spine for some reason. He really didn’t like this woman so before she had a chance to ask anymore questions of him, he turned on his heel and headed for the road that would lead him back to Seventh Heaven.
---
“Jesus, could he be anymore longwinded?” Yuffie growled, agitated, as they waited for Rufus to get to the point in his little announcement. “I swear, just make it short and to the point and no one will be tempted to throw projectiles at your face!”
“Calm down, kid,” Cid grumbled, scratching his chin. “He has to be dramatic in order to catch the attention of those in the crowd who are near snoring,”
“This speech is putting me to sleep, not waking me up,” Morghann grumbled from the bar where she was sitting, her head resting in her hands. “Why doesn’t he just come right out and say it? He’s rebuilding the Shinra Corporation.”
“How do you know that?” Cid glanced at her curiously.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” It was Cloud who spoke up, his face emotionless save for a flicker of disgust at the back of those blue orbs. “That company is a means for power for Rufus and that’s all he wants; Power.”
“All the more reason for me to despise him,” Morghann grumbled, Sirius giving a curt nod and a snort of agreement.
“That’s just what we need, another Lifestream fallout,”
“That won’t happen again,” Morghann looked more determined than she did disgusted.
“How do you know that?” Cid studied her for a moment and she just shrugged it off, realizing that a secret that she’d been guarding closely between herself, Reno, Sirius, Cloud and Tifa could have been completely blown.
“I may not like Rufus, but I have to admit that he’s not a stupid man. He won’t make the same mistakes twice,”
“Let’s hope,” Barret rose from his bar stool and moved closer to the TV. “What I wouldn’t give for a Rufus remote so that I could just fast forward this speech to the point. Maybe he does want to rebuild Shinra like you all seem to think, but why doesn’t he just say it?”
“He’s dragging it out for a dramatic effect,” Tifa shrugged it off. “I can turn it off,”
“No,” Morghann said sharply. “We could be wrong,”
Startled, Tifa merely nodded. “Ok,”
Ten minutes later, just as Rufus announced that he was, in fact, planning to start the rebuilding of his company, Reno walked into the bar looking disturbed and distracted.
“Reno?” He glanced up at Morghann and smiled at her. Had his announcement already been made? Did she-
And then he realized why he’d hated that reporter so much.
“So what do you think about the plan to rebuild?”
“It’s a big step for the Shinra Company,”
“And your involvement is pretty much set in stone?”
“It’s the most important thing to me right now. I can‘t afford distractions,”
“THAT’S BULL SHIT!” Horrified and utterly pissed, Reno pointed an accusing finger at the TV screen. “I didn’t say that! That’s not…! Morghann! I didn‘t say that! She‘s twisted my words around!”
“I guess I should thank Rufus…for opening my eyes…” Morghann shook her head and wasn’t quite able to stop the tears.
“I DIDN’T SAY THAT!”
“THEN WHO WAS IT, RENO!?” Morghann screamed, her voice breaking. “Do you have a twin that none of us know about because that damn sure looked like you!”
“Damnit, Morghann, she doctored that taping! I didn’t say that…I mean, I did, but not for Rufus, not for Shinra. I-”
“Save it,” She growled, wiping her eyes in shame. “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I won’t fall for it this time. You don’t give a damn about me or this baby!”
“That’s not true! Morghann, you’re not being fair!”
“Fair? Fair?!” Outraged, Morghann advanced on him, but regretted the quick motion. Her baby wasn’t exactly comfortable with her current emotional state. “You’ve lied to me for months about everything! You asked me to have this baby with you and yet you’d rather play lap dog to Rufus Shinra! And now you’ve publicly announced your loyalty to him and how it’s the most important thing to you? Do you realize how humiliating that is to me right now? And to top it all off you don’t want any kind of distractions? Is that what I am to you; a distraction?”
“Morghann-”
“No, shut up! I am NOT through!”
Several women who had come into the bar earlier to have a few drinks and some food whistled in approval of Morghann’s astuteness.
“I have had enough of all of this bullshit from you! I can’t take it anymore! If you don’t want to have anything to do with us then I’ll sever the ties that bind us and leave. I can’t deal with this stress. I can’t deal with any of this anymore!”
“Morg’,” Sirius touched her friend’s shoulder and flinched when Morghann jerked away from her.
“You’ve screwed with my emotions for the last time, Reno. It’s over. I don’t want to see you again,”
“Morghann…” His voice was small, broken. Sirius just stared at him, searching the undercurrents of the room and the atmosphere for any trace of a lingering thought in his mind. When she found a wave that matched his mind, she caught onto it, followed it, and went rigid as she explored it. She heard what he’d really said, felt what he’d felt towards the reporter and shared in his emotion that Morghann wasn’t going to believe him this time. All she could feel from him was the fear that he was about to lose everything he cared about in the world because some bitch wanted a better story for her report. But that fear was so strong…
He was crying by the time Morghann screamed, “I HATE YOU!”
The room fell silent. No one moved, no one breathed.
He knew, Sirius realized when she looked between them. Reno knew that she could sense that he was telling the truth and he wanted her to say something so that Morghann would realize that she was mistaken. But Sirius could feel what Morghann felt, too, and knew that if she said anything now, it would destroy any hope of their relationship ever healing. Morghann had shut down at this point and wouldn’t accept anything beyond what she’d heard and seen on that television. She was hurt and she was uncomfortable and beyond the point of forgiveness.
But Reno…Oh, the anguish in those eyes.
“Cid,”
Startled, Cid jumped to his feet when Morghann called his name.
“When do you leave for Rocket Town?”
“I’m leaving in a few hours. But I have some errands to run before heading back to Rocket Town. It could take a few weeks before I get back there if you’re wanting to come. Would that be-”
“I don’t care! I just…I don’t want to be here,”
“If you want, I can wait an hour or so-”
“I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes,”
“Morghann! Wait, please, I-” He moved for her but Vincent blocked his path, looking mighty unpleasant. “Get out of the way, Vincent, I have to-”
“Stay away from her,”
The bar had cleared out a few minutes ago, but the tension hadn’t eased in the slightest.
“You don’t understand! I have to tell her what really happened-”
“Reno,” Sirius’ voice shook and he looked at her, looking more like a child than she’d ever seen him look before.
“Sirius, tell them! You know I’m telling the truth! Tell them!”
“Please, Reno. Don’t do this right now,”
“Tell them! I know you can read my thoughts and my feelings so read them and tell them that I’m not lying! TELL THEM!” He was sobbing, so desperate that it was pathetic. Sirius jerked away from him, shaking her head.
“I can’t, Reno,”
“Please! Please, Sirius! Please, please!”
“Stop it, Reno…” Breathless, and unable to contain her churning emotions, Sirius backed away from him and raced up the stairs towards her room, Cloud right on her heels.
“You’ve done this to yourself,” Vincent muttered as he strode towards the door, catching a glimpse of Reno as he dropped to his knees, hugging himself and crying like a baby.
“I didn’t…What I said…Morghann, please…Don’t d-do this…” He held himself, shuddering and trembling, rocking back and forth on his knees.
“We don’t believe you,” Barret muttered as he walked past. “You should leave now, before Morghann comes back down. She doesn’t want to see you anymore, Reno, she made that quite clear,”
“Morghann…Morghann…”
“I said leave!” Barret heaved the man onto his feet and shoved him through the bar door. “I don’t want to see you in here again, do you understand me?!”
Reno just cried, he didn’t know what else to do. There was nothing else that he could do.
He didn’t see the reporter looming in the alleyway, smirking as if she’d just made some huge accomplishment. Chuckling quietly, the woman ducked into the alleyway, located her cell phone and made the call to her employer that the job had been done as he had asked. This distraction would suffice in keeping Cloud Strife’s eyes from falling on Rocket Town.
---
“Welcome aboard the Sierra!” He tried to force a smile but it failed miserably. Morghann just looked so…so…well, there weren’t really any words for how shattered she looked. “Ah…I’ll uh…here, I’ll take you to your cabin. I hope you’re ok with traveling for a little while. I have to make a couple of stops and drop offs before heading back to Rocket Town,”
“I’m ok with it,” She whispered, following him towards the cabins where the crew, himself, and a certain other guest usually shared.
“How is Shera?”
---
“Can we do this without Reno’s help?” Elena studied Rufus intensely. “I mean, without his support-”
“I’m not concerned. He made his choice and he chose-”
“YOU!” Reno burst into the room, pointing a trembling finger in Rufus’ face. “You lying son of a bitch! You BASTARD!”
“Reno?” Elena took a step forward and stopped when his hard, shattered eyes focused on her for a moment. He’d been crying his eyes out for hours it looked like.
“You hired that bitch! You ruined it!”
“Reno, I don’t know what you’re yelling about,”
“Shut up! SHUT UP! You did this!”
“Reno…” Elena walked towards him, already knowing what might have happened. “Reno, what’s going on?” Tseng reached out to stop her, afraid of what that wild look in Reno’s eyes might mean for anyone who got too close.
“You hired that bitch to doctor the interview! You couldn’t stand that I didn’t want to help you this time. That I chose my f-family over you! M-Morghann was m-my w-world and you…you…” He fell, unable to continue.
“Oh, Reno!” Elena knelt down beside him and gasped when he leapt into her arms.
Rufus looked solid enough, but something in his eyes flickered on…remorse?
“You son of a b-bitch…Selfish…I just w-wanted to be w-with my family. You took her…you…”
“Shh, Reno,” Elena hugged him, wanting to scream in frustration. He’d been so happy…so full of pride. “Rufus, did you do this?”
“No, I did not. I will do my best to correct this, however,” Rufus turned towards Rude and Tseng and motioned them from the room, he, himself, joining them. “Rude, I want you to study the tapes of the press conference today. Find that reporter,”
“Yes, sir,”
“Reno?”
“She won’t even t-talk to m-me,”
“Hush, Reno,” Elena stroked his hair, feeling sympathy welling up for him. “She’s pregnant, Reno, and she’s been through a lot. I’ve talked to her briefly before…she doesn’t seem like someone who would be so unforgiving,”
Reno laughed, but it was bitter. “She never forgave what happened to her family. She hates Shinra and she asked me to leave months ago. I should have listened and done it when it would have made a difference. She said she h-hated me…She h-hates me…!”
“Reno, I can’t say anything to make that go away except that she didn’t mean it. She’s hurting because of a lie, Reno, and she needs to be able to cope with that on her own.”
“But Sirius knows I was telling the truth! Sirius knows but she wouldn’t s-say anything and n-now I’ve l-lost Morghann and the b-baby…!”
“Shh. Shh, Reno. It’s all right. Everything’s going to be all right,”
“I want her back, Elena…! I want her back…”
“I know,” She whispered, wishing desperately for some kind of sedative to give him to keep him from hurting himself. He was too unstable right now. Strangely, as if Rufus had been able to read her mind (a trait she wouldn’t be surprised of if he actually had it) the man came back into the chamber and gave the sedative to Reno. Thankfully, it did the trick. The poor thing needed rest.
“Who was she, Rufus?”
“I don’t know,” Rufus grimaced as Reno’s body relaxed against Elena. His eyelids were suddenly too heavy, his body too relaxed. He was out cold in mere seconds. “I do know that she’s not a real reporter. How that interview got into the whole segment is beyond me,”
“Where is she now?”
“Conveniently vanished,” Rufus growled. “Whoever did this must have had a good motive for doing so. Or…or there’s something else going on entirely,”
“Do you think that this was a distraction?”
“It could be,” Rufus looked towards the huge double windows of this temporary office and stared out into the night sky. “But why Reno and Morghann?”
“Do you think someone found out about her ability? Rufus, you don’t think…”
“No,” Rufus looked at her, shaking his head. “No, Eko is dead,”
“Can we be sure of that?”
Rufus’ lips parted but no sound escaped them. Truth was, Eko’s death had only been a rumor amongst the executives of Shinra whom all used to work with his father. No, he couldn’t be sure.
---
End Chapter.
“Sweetheart, you can’t always believe what you see on that crazy television. You know that not everything on that is truth,”
Morghann jolted as she awoke from the dream, only catching the last words of something her mother had said to her a long time ago when she was a child. The dream was already gone, but something inside of her had started to set off warning bells. Confused by this because she didn’t know why she felt as if she should be on her guard, she pushed herself up on her elbows and yawned deeply. The nap had been nice, but it would have been better if Reno had been back when she’d woken up.
“Your dad is just…well, what can I say?” She looked down at her stomach when she felt her baby move and grimaced. “Does this mean that you’re going to be active today?”
There was a knock on her door, followed by a familiar male voice calling her name, “Morghann?”
“Just a second, Vincent,” Rising carefully from her bed, Morghann moved towards the door to see what Vincent needed from her.
“Did I wake you?”
“No,” She smiled as she stepped into the hallway. “Was already awake. Is something wrong?”
“I’m not sure. Shinra’s about to make an announcement on TV. I thought you might want to see it,”
The warning bells were screaming in her head but now even louder than before. It was killing her that she didn’t really know why, save for the fact that where Shinra was involved, Reno was likely to be mixed up in it, but she’d promised not to nag him about it even though he’d told her that he’d already made his decision. Maybe this was the announcement that he’d been talking about that would let her know his decision? She started hoping that, if this was the announcement, that she was ready for it.
---
He wanted to run away as far and as fast as he could. That’s the impulse feeling he got from being near this reporter woman. There was just something sinister in those dark eyes that mingled on the border of insanity and cruelty. Then again, Reno had never really been a fan of reporters. None of them were very trustworthy, and that counted some times with close friends who were reporters.
Anything for a good story…
“So, tell me, Reno, what is your take on this announcement of Shinra’s reconstruction? Why have you chosen to bow out from this event?”
Something in her voice matched the gleam in her eyes and Reno had the urge to sew his lips shut just to keep from having to talk to the woman. She just felt…wrong.
“Well…it’s a big step for the Shinra Company and I wish Rufus good luck, however, my family is the most important thing to me right now. I can’t afford distractions,”
“Really?” The woman smiled in the strangest of ways causing a chill to run up and down Reno’s spine for some reason. He really didn’t like this woman so before she had a chance to ask anymore questions of him, he turned on his heel and headed for the road that would lead him back to Seventh Heaven.
---
“Jesus, could he be anymore longwinded?” Yuffie growled, agitated, as they waited for Rufus to get to the point in his little announcement. “I swear, just make it short and to the point and no one will be tempted to throw projectiles at your face!”
“Calm down, kid,” Cid grumbled, scratching his chin. “He has to be dramatic in order to catch the attention of those in the crowd who are near snoring,”
“This speech is putting me to sleep, not waking me up,” Morghann grumbled from the bar where she was sitting, her head resting in her hands. “Why doesn’t he just come right out and say it? He’s rebuilding the Shinra Corporation.”
“How do you know that?” Cid glanced at her curiously.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” It was Cloud who spoke up, his face emotionless save for a flicker of disgust at the back of those blue orbs. “That company is a means for power for Rufus and that’s all he wants; Power.”
“All the more reason for me to despise him,” Morghann grumbled, Sirius giving a curt nod and a snort of agreement.
“That’s just what we need, another Lifestream fallout,”
“That won’t happen again,” Morghann looked more determined than she did disgusted.
“How do you know that?” Cid studied her for a moment and she just shrugged it off, realizing that a secret that she’d been guarding closely between herself, Reno, Sirius, Cloud and Tifa could have been completely blown.
“I may not like Rufus, but I have to admit that he’s not a stupid man. He won’t make the same mistakes twice,”
“Let’s hope,” Barret rose from his bar stool and moved closer to the TV. “What I wouldn’t give for a Rufus remote so that I could just fast forward this speech to the point. Maybe he does want to rebuild Shinra like you all seem to think, but why doesn’t he just say it?”
“He’s dragging it out for a dramatic effect,” Tifa shrugged it off. “I can turn it off,”
“No,” Morghann said sharply. “We could be wrong,”
Startled, Tifa merely nodded. “Ok,”
Ten minutes later, just as Rufus announced that he was, in fact, planning to start the rebuilding of his company, Reno walked into the bar looking disturbed and distracted.
“Reno?” He glanced up at Morghann and smiled at her. Had his announcement already been made? Did she-
And then he realized why he’d hated that reporter so much.
“So what do you think about the plan to rebuild?”
“It’s a big step for the Shinra Company,”
“And your involvement is pretty much set in stone?”
“It’s the most important thing to me right now. I can‘t afford distractions,”
“THAT’S BULL SHIT!” Horrified and utterly pissed, Reno pointed an accusing finger at the TV screen. “I didn’t say that! That’s not…! Morghann! I didn‘t say that! She‘s twisted my words around!”
“I guess I should thank Rufus…for opening my eyes…” Morghann shook her head and wasn’t quite able to stop the tears.
“I DIDN’T SAY THAT!”
“THEN WHO WAS IT, RENO!?” Morghann screamed, her voice breaking. “Do you have a twin that none of us know about because that damn sure looked like you!”
“Damnit, Morghann, she doctored that taping! I didn’t say that…I mean, I did, but not for Rufus, not for Shinra. I-”
“Save it,” She growled, wiping her eyes in shame. “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I won’t fall for it this time. You don’t give a damn about me or this baby!”
“That’s not true! Morghann, you’re not being fair!”
“Fair? Fair?!” Outraged, Morghann advanced on him, but regretted the quick motion. Her baby wasn’t exactly comfortable with her current emotional state. “You’ve lied to me for months about everything! You asked me to have this baby with you and yet you’d rather play lap dog to Rufus Shinra! And now you’ve publicly announced your loyalty to him and how it’s the most important thing to you? Do you realize how humiliating that is to me right now? And to top it all off you don’t want any kind of distractions? Is that what I am to you; a distraction?”
“Morghann-”
“No, shut up! I am NOT through!”
Several women who had come into the bar earlier to have a few drinks and some food whistled in approval of Morghann’s astuteness.
“I have had enough of all of this bullshit from you! I can’t take it anymore! If you don’t want to have anything to do with us then I’ll sever the ties that bind us and leave. I can’t deal with this stress. I can’t deal with any of this anymore!”
“Morg’,” Sirius touched her friend’s shoulder and flinched when Morghann jerked away from her.
“You’ve screwed with my emotions for the last time, Reno. It’s over. I don’t want to see you again,”
“Morghann…” His voice was small, broken. Sirius just stared at him, searching the undercurrents of the room and the atmosphere for any trace of a lingering thought in his mind. When she found a wave that matched his mind, she caught onto it, followed it, and went rigid as she explored it. She heard what he’d really said, felt what he’d felt towards the reporter and shared in his emotion that Morghann wasn’t going to believe him this time. All she could feel from him was the fear that he was about to lose everything he cared about in the world because some bitch wanted a better story for her report. But that fear was so strong…
He was crying by the time Morghann screamed, “I HATE YOU!”
The room fell silent. No one moved, no one breathed.
He knew, Sirius realized when she looked between them. Reno knew that she could sense that he was telling the truth and he wanted her to say something so that Morghann would realize that she was mistaken. But Sirius could feel what Morghann felt, too, and knew that if she said anything now, it would destroy any hope of their relationship ever healing. Morghann had shut down at this point and wouldn’t accept anything beyond what she’d heard and seen on that television. She was hurt and she was uncomfortable and beyond the point of forgiveness.
But Reno…Oh, the anguish in those eyes.
“Cid,”
Startled, Cid jumped to his feet when Morghann called his name.
“When do you leave for Rocket Town?”
“I’m leaving in a few hours. But I have some errands to run before heading back to Rocket Town. It could take a few weeks before I get back there if you’re wanting to come. Would that be-”
“I don’t care! I just…I don’t want to be here,”
“If you want, I can wait an hour or so-”
“I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes,”
“Morghann! Wait, please, I-” He moved for her but Vincent blocked his path, looking mighty unpleasant. “Get out of the way, Vincent, I have to-”
“Stay away from her,”
The bar had cleared out a few minutes ago, but the tension hadn’t eased in the slightest.
“You don’t understand! I have to tell her what really happened-”
“Reno,” Sirius’ voice shook and he looked at her, looking more like a child than she’d ever seen him look before.
“Sirius, tell them! You know I’m telling the truth! Tell them!”
“Please, Reno. Don’t do this right now,”
“Tell them! I know you can read my thoughts and my feelings so read them and tell them that I’m not lying! TELL THEM!” He was sobbing, so desperate that it was pathetic. Sirius jerked away from him, shaking her head.
“I can’t, Reno,”
“Please! Please, Sirius! Please, please!”
“Stop it, Reno…” Breathless, and unable to contain her churning emotions, Sirius backed away from him and raced up the stairs towards her room, Cloud right on her heels.
“You’ve done this to yourself,” Vincent muttered as he strode towards the door, catching a glimpse of Reno as he dropped to his knees, hugging himself and crying like a baby.
“I didn’t…What I said…Morghann, please…Don’t d-do this…” He held himself, shuddering and trembling, rocking back and forth on his knees.
“We don’t believe you,” Barret muttered as he walked past. “You should leave now, before Morghann comes back down. She doesn’t want to see you anymore, Reno, she made that quite clear,”
“Morghann…Morghann…”
“I said leave!” Barret heaved the man onto his feet and shoved him through the bar door. “I don’t want to see you in here again, do you understand me?!”
Reno just cried, he didn’t know what else to do. There was nothing else that he could do.
He didn’t see the reporter looming in the alleyway, smirking as if she’d just made some huge accomplishment. Chuckling quietly, the woman ducked into the alleyway, located her cell phone and made the call to her employer that the job had been done as he had asked. This distraction would suffice in keeping Cloud Strife’s eyes from falling on Rocket Town.
---
“Welcome aboard the Sierra!” He tried to force a smile but it failed miserably. Morghann just looked so…so…well, there weren’t really any words for how shattered she looked. “Ah…I’ll uh…here, I’ll take you to your cabin. I hope you’re ok with traveling for a little while. I have to make a couple of stops and drop offs before heading back to Rocket Town,”
“I’m ok with it,” She whispered, following him towards the cabins where the crew, himself, and a certain other guest usually shared.
“How is Shera?”
---
“Can we do this without Reno’s help?” Elena studied Rufus intensely. “I mean, without his support-”
“I’m not concerned. He made his choice and he chose-”
“YOU!” Reno burst into the room, pointing a trembling finger in Rufus’ face. “You lying son of a bitch! You BASTARD!”
“Reno?” Elena took a step forward and stopped when his hard, shattered eyes focused on her for a moment. He’d been crying his eyes out for hours it looked like.
“You hired that bitch! You ruined it!”
“Reno, I don’t know what you’re yelling about,”
“Shut up! SHUT UP! You did this!”
“Reno…” Elena walked towards him, already knowing what might have happened. “Reno, what’s going on?” Tseng reached out to stop her, afraid of what that wild look in Reno’s eyes might mean for anyone who got too close.
“You hired that bitch to doctor the interview! You couldn’t stand that I didn’t want to help you this time. That I chose my f-family over you! M-Morghann was m-my w-world and you…you…” He fell, unable to continue.
“Oh, Reno!” Elena knelt down beside him and gasped when he leapt into her arms.
Rufus looked solid enough, but something in his eyes flickered on…remorse?
“You son of a b-bitch…Selfish…I just w-wanted to be w-with my family. You took her…you…”
“Shh, Reno,” Elena hugged him, wanting to scream in frustration. He’d been so happy…so full of pride. “Rufus, did you do this?”
“No, I did not. I will do my best to correct this, however,” Rufus turned towards Rude and Tseng and motioned them from the room, he, himself, joining them. “Rude, I want you to study the tapes of the press conference today. Find that reporter,”
“Yes, sir,”
“Reno?”
“She won’t even t-talk to m-me,”
“Hush, Reno,” Elena stroked his hair, feeling sympathy welling up for him. “She’s pregnant, Reno, and she’s been through a lot. I’ve talked to her briefly before…she doesn’t seem like someone who would be so unforgiving,”
Reno laughed, but it was bitter. “She never forgave what happened to her family. She hates Shinra and she asked me to leave months ago. I should have listened and done it when it would have made a difference. She said she h-hated me…She h-hates me…!”
“Reno, I can’t say anything to make that go away except that she didn’t mean it. She’s hurting because of a lie, Reno, and she needs to be able to cope with that on her own.”
“But Sirius knows I was telling the truth! Sirius knows but she wouldn’t s-say anything and n-now I’ve l-lost Morghann and the b-baby…!”
“Shh. Shh, Reno. It’s all right. Everything’s going to be all right,”
“I want her back, Elena…! I want her back…”
“I know,” She whispered, wishing desperately for some kind of sedative to give him to keep him from hurting himself. He was too unstable right now. Strangely, as if Rufus had been able to read her mind (a trait she wouldn’t be surprised of if he actually had it) the man came back into the chamber and gave the sedative to Reno. Thankfully, it did the trick. The poor thing needed rest.
“Who was she, Rufus?”
“I don’t know,” Rufus grimaced as Reno’s body relaxed against Elena. His eyelids were suddenly too heavy, his body too relaxed. He was out cold in mere seconds. “I do know that she’s not a real reporter. How that interview got into the whole segment is beyond me,”
“Where is she now?”
“Conveniently vanished,” Rufus growled. “Whoever did this must have had a good motive for doing so. Or…or there’s something else going on entirely,”
“Do you think that this was a distraction?”
“It could be,” Rufus looked towards the huge double windows of this temporary office and stared out into the night sky. “But why Reno and Morghann?”
“Do you think someone found out about her ability? Rufus, you don’t think…”
“No,” Rufus looked at her, shaking his head. “No, Eko is dead,”
“Can we be sure of that?”
Rufus’ lips parted but no sound escaped them. Truth was, Eko’s death had only been a rumor amongst the executives of Shinra whom all used to work with his father. No, he couldn’t be sure.
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End Chapter.