The Wee Hours, Monday Morning, Room 429

[the_merriest]

It wasn't even dawn yet but Rikku couldn't get back to sleep. Lying here wasn't helping anything, either. So -- as quietly as she could -- she got up and tiptoed to the door of 429, stepping carefully past the cots and sleeping bags and hoping not to wake anyone.

The hallway was bright and strange-looking but she didn't want to be far from her little ones. So she sank down against one of the walls and tried to sort out her mind. It wasn't working, so far.

(just for one, and possibly big for the SP)

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[raspberryturk]

She had hoped not to wake anyone. But not everyone in the room had to be almost-awake as much as possible, and Reno cracked an eye open just in time to see her slip out the door.

It didn't take any deliberation at all before he slipped out of his sleeping bag and made his way out into the hallway to join her.

"Yo," he said, settling himself on the floor next to her.

[the_merriest]

She looked up, surprised, and then realized she shouldn't be. He'd been on high-alert all weekend, just in case something breathed wrong on one of his kids. The door opening could have been something bad coming in, not one strangely thoughtful Al Bhed girl creeping out.

"Hey," she said. "It's okay, sorry. Didn't mean to wake you."

[raspberryturk]

"Naah. I was barely sleepin', anyhow." He glanced at her for a moment, and then continued. "Somethin' up?"

Aside from all of the obvious that's been running around for two days, now?

[the_merriest]

"I dunno," she said softly. "Everything feels wrong. Think maybe I'm too tired. Keep wanting to steal your phone and find your boss's number and tell him a few things."

Like go fuck yourself and how dare you and go fuck yourself, mostly.

[raspberryturk]

"Tseng wouldn't have known about this. My guess is, it was some kind of commission work from President Shinra, back when everything was goin' to hell."

Rufus doesn't have many Turks to choose from, and Hojo is dead, and there's no question about our loyalty now, and all of this is so fucking sick, I know. I know.

"I've been thinkin' about it, too. Can't just ... let him go back to that."

[the_merriest]

"Do you have his number?" she said flatly. "No. We can't. I don't accept that. Fandom brought him here for a fucking reason. So we fix it. I just ... wish I knew how."

[raspberryturk]

"His number? That President's? Won't do any good. Guy's dead." If he wasn't dead, then right about now would be the time Reno set out to personally kill him. A lot. Phoenix Down his ass and flatten him out again. Just to be sure.

"There's, uh." Reno leaned his head back against the wall, considering. "When he goes back, he'll be goin' to a lab. One of Hojo's. Hojo... likes doin' freaky experiments with Mako, shit like that, so he'll be someplace with a reactor. And none of us Turks is gonna know about him."

He paused, closed his eyes, and pursed his lips for a moment. He was saying all of this aloud, now, if only because maybe if he did so, she'd be able to grasp something that he was missing. "But if he knows things, then we gotta listen."

[the_merriest]

"Phone numbers," Rikku said, again, sitting up straighter and patting her legs down. Damn. Pajamas did not come with leg pouches with handy slips of paper. "Every phone number you've had, with the Turks. Same with Rude. And do you trust this Tseng?"

She didn't, but a wider net couldn't hurt.

[raspberryturk]

"Tseng's a prick, but he's said 'no' to ShinRa before." And if that didn't give Rikku an idea as to how big a deal that was, Reno didn't know what would. "I trust Tseng with my life, zoto."

He patted down his pockets, too. No, no pen in his pant pockets. He was never that organized. "And if he can't get in touch with any of those, shit, better give him the newbie's number. She's not very freakin' bright, but at least she's a Turk."

Elena's loyalty was still to ShinRa, however. But maybe, maybe, if there were no other options, she'd at least have enough of a soft spot for a kid who knew classified information who was trapped with fucking Hojo.

He stopped short and frowned a little.

"I don't know how he's gonna get to a phone."

[the_merriest]

"You'll be trusting him with Rede's," she said, shaking her head. "I hope you're right. Is there anyone outside the Turks who you'd consider trusting with this? And ..." She hated, hated adding this, but had to. For Rede's sake. "Include some numbers for ... Turks who've gone. They might have made it, in that world."

She crossed her legs, tucking her feet under. "A reactor sounds like a big place, has to be a phone somewhere. You give him a few key phrases that'll let anyone who picks up know he means business. And please tell me Rude's working on hunting down this Hojo sicko and beating the crap out of him?"

[raspberryturk]

"Haven't spoken to Rude. In a while."

Still paranoid that saying too much would get the big guy in trouble. That didn't mean Rude was trying to call him any less often. The quiet Turk was just as stubborn as Reno was, after all.

"Rede'll get... every phone number I can get my hands on. In my world, Hojo's dead, so kickin' the crap outta him ain't gonna do much good, I don't think. In his, I guess he ain't? That'll complicate shit, if he's right there while the kid's trying to make a phone call, yo. He's got no issues... terminatin' experiments gone awry, zoto."

He hated hated hated talking about Rede that way. But that was Hojo's brain, there, and Hojo was... sick. At his most pleasant.

[the_merriest]

Shit. Shit shit shit. Rikku hugged her arms around herself.

"Okay," she said finally. "Do we send him back and beg him to be extra-careful? Or do we give him a gun and tell him to shoot to kill?"

Hojo needed to be dead either way, and it was practically community service, but she really didn't want to pile the trauma on to a kid who couldn't be more than seven or eight.

[raspberryturk]

Reno took a good, long, deep breath, shut his eyes, and grit his teeth before he answered.

"We tell him to be real careful. And we give him a gun and show him how the hell to use it, just in case."

He was a Turk. He wasn't taking any chances.

[the_merriest]

"I know that's a lot, for a kid," she said quickly. "But if that's the only way to make sure that ... Hojo doesn't ... it's better than the alternative."

She stared at the floor for a long time. "It's better than not knowing. Never knowing. And wondering if ... you could have done more."

[raspberryturk]

"Been chewin' on it since I realized where he's from," Reno agreed, nodding slowly. "He's a good kid. Don't wanna give him a good time and ... somethin' like a family here, and then... You know. Just send him back to that, with nothin'."

He looked at her, tilting his head faintly.

"But that wasn't just about him, was it?"

She'd done this last year.

She hadn't known any of them, last year.

[the_merriest]

"We have to," she said. "Give him a family, I mean. If this is the only family he ever gets, then at least he had us. At least he had that, before he goes back to ... we can't stop what he's going back to. We can just try to fix it and give him what we can, while he's here, right?"

She didn't look up from the floor.

"I thought Payido was someone else, at first," she admitted. "Blonde hair calling me Mommy. I keep waiting for her to show up. She's ... not going to."

[raspberryturk]

"We'll fix it," Reno agreed, nodding. Because... Because they would. Kid deserved the attempt, at least. And Turks- well. Turks didn't accept failure.

"You.. worried about her?" That much was obvious, really. But the talking about it might help, he hoped.

[the_merriest]

"We will," she said. "Whatever world he's in, you know, there's a Reno out there who's not gonna sleep until that kid's okay again."

She unbent her legs, one at a time, and stretched them out in front of her, curling her toes out and back again.

"I don't know," Rikku said softly. "I can't tell if I should be. I'm never gonna see her again. I cried when she left and I'm never gonna see her again. She called me Mommy and I'm never gonna see her again. And maybe she's out there somewhere with a version of me, and she's happy, and maybe she just ... stopped existing. The timeline collapsed, and she's never gonna be real anywhere ever again. Maybe that's why she's not here."

[raspberryturk]

He was looking straight at her, now, his lips pulled into a thoughtful sort of frown.

"I think she's still happy with her family," he decided. "And maybe whatever they all came here through just didn't pick her up again. Because... I dunno, Rikku. If this is all just about timelines, then I can name a bunch of kids who shouldn't be here right now, but they are anyhow."

[the_merriest]

Rikku leaned over, pressing her fingers against her eyes, and hoping it passed for 'tired.'

"Y-yeah," she said, nodding. "I'm sure you're right. She's ... gotta be happy somewhere. Just would've been ... nice to see her again. Th-that's all."

Not for Jude, not for what could've been. But for a crazed little blonde girl who called her Susso and stole traffic cones and who she'd never see again, in this world or any other.

[raspberryturk]

Reno was quiet again, but this time, he wasn't just looking and thinking.

He reached around, draping his arm over her shoulders, and leaned toward her, pulling her close.

"Somewhere, there's another Rikku who's takin' real good care of her little girl. Just the way it's supposed to be, for them. She came here for a while, and she said 'Rammu' to you, because... I dunno. Maybe Fandom thought you needed to see how kickass you really are. It doesn't matter what universe you're in, you keep endin' up with some beautiful daughters, zoto."

[the_merriest]

"Just ones I don't get to keep," Rikku said, frowning at her toes. She opened her mouth to say more but shook her head instead. "C'mon, we should get back inside before we wake up anyone else."

She was already standing up and brushing nonexistent dust from her pajama bottoms.

[raspberryturk]

Reno continued to sit, raising an eyebrow at her as she stood.

"Thought we came out here so that we wouldn't wake anyone up," he replied.

There was more, then. There was always more, when she was anxious to walk away like that.

"C'mon, sit down a little longer. Or we can go for a walk. Can't wake anyone up if we're outside, zoto."

[the_merriest]

"I ... don't wanna be that far from them," she admitted with a shrug. "And I think if you tried, you'd end up pacing and checking your watch."

She considered that. "Do you even own a watch?"

[raspberryturk]

"I usually just check the time on my phone," Reno shrugged. "Look, Rikku, if you really gotta go back into the room, I ain't gonna stop you. But if there's somethin' else eatin' at you? I'm here now, too."

[the_merriest]

Rikku hesitated, hand on the door, mulling it over.

"I just ...." She shook her head again. "Not now. When they leave."

And with that she cracked the door open, slowly, and stepped inside.

[raspberryturk]

Reno sat there for a moment, watching her head back into the room.

Well, he'd made the offer, at least.

With a sigh, he stood up and followed her back in. There were a few more hours of sleeping to get in before morning.