the_merriest | The Way Back to 429, Post-Vortex

It was also apparent that Reno hadn't had a very snuggly childhood himself, which Rikku had ... mostly suspected, but it was still a little heartbreaking.

"You were all warm and safe," Rikku explained, settling into his arms. "Probably climbs onto your lap and falls asleep there, too. She loves you."

"She..." Whoa. "I love her too," he mumbled, pressing his face into her hair and closing his eyes. Inhale. Exhale. Okay. "I miss her. And I got no idea how someone so..."

Innocent. Happy. Beautiful. Perfect.

"So fragile could feel... I dunno. Safe. Like that."

"With you?" she said softly. "I'm not surprised at all. She knows nothing in the world can hurt her, or Daddy will beat it to a pulp. She knows you'd do anything for her."

That had been obvious from the look on his face, whenever he held her.

"Yeah," he agreed, and he was smiling again. "I would."

He had to gather as much of Rikku as was possible into his arms now, and hold her close, and maybe never let go. Because there'd been too much letting go, tonight.

"I want her back."

"Me too," Rikku said, trying not to sniffle again dammit and squeezing him harder. "I w-want ..."

Can't say that. Would scare him and he'd leave and he'd stare at you funny and and and --

"I w-want her. And u-us and whatever life she has and I want all of that and I don't care, I do."

He didn't run away.

At that particular moment, he was too busy squeezing the crap out of her and trying not to break down and cry again to even think that he should be running away.

Because... Because, dammit, he... he wanted that, too, whatever that was. And wouldn't run from it, and shouldn't have let them leave, and and and...

"E muja oui," he murmured.

Edited 2008-04-30 05:58 (UTC)

Her shoulders were shaking and she felt her eyes burn as she pulled him closer, he couldn't get closer, he had to get closer a-and he said ...

"E-e muja oui, duu," she managed, and she was sniffling on his jacket and she didn't care. "Y-you ..."

She leaned up and covered his mouth with hers. See, they could get closer, after all.

They could. This was a very nice level of close, standing outside and kissing in the rain.

Very fitting, wasn't it? The rain?

It made everything colder. Maybe when they were finished kissing, he'd offer her his jacket. When they were finished crying against one another's lips.

The rain made it seem less lonely, with tears falling down. The sky and the island and the rest of the world was crying, that stupid vortex was crying, for a Rede that had to carry a gun and a list back home and a Payido who lived on the beaches of Mexico and a Ruba who she wanted for her very own, consequences be damned.

For their very own. Curly red hair and raspberries and snuggles and strange and crazy and perfect and theirs.

"C-can we ... go inside?" she asked. Please? If kissing helped then more kissing would only help more. Right?

"We can go inside," he agreed, and inside was reasonably nearby, so he'd just keep his arms around her and they could walk back to the dorms together that way.

Inside, and out of the rain, and up the stairs to his room, where they could kiss some more after the traditional pause at the door to fumble with his keys.

His hands were cold. It had been raining out.

Oh, hell. The keys could wait a moment. He had to kiss her some more.

Stupid that they couldn't just lean against the door hard enough to will it down, and she pulled him against her and both of them against the door and if his hands were cold they should be on her skin, she could warm them up, and he could warm her up, and that should involve getting these wet clothes off, shouldn't it? Stupid door and stupid rain and stupid everything except Ruba and standing here with him. And Rede. And Payido. And if she thought about all her little ones she would cry again. They could pretend it was more rain falling. She wouldn't tell if he wouldn't.

He wouldn't tell. What they were doing, crying against one another's mouths, arms knotted around one another-

It was more rain. It had all been rain, today. Puddles and splashing and drowning.

Reno wouldn't tell. He would hold her tight and kiss her and not tell anyone at all.

They needed to be inside. Needed to be naked and warm and wrapped around each other and drowning. They needed --

"Phone," Rikku gasped abruptly, breaking the kiss and pulling back. "You need ... phone."

She slipped one of her hands back to find his, and peel the keys out of them. She could open the door. He had to use his phone. Now. Immediately. Five minutes ago.

If there was even a chance that Rede was out there somewhere, and they were just standing here kissing ...

Edited 2008-04-30 19:07 (UTC)

Phone.

"Phone," he agreed, and he was digging through his pockets and there it was, and he was flipping it open and looking through the phone list and who to call? Tseng or Rude, he didn't really have many options, here, and he'd been avoiding Rude and would have to argue out that first, and that would waste more time. More time while maybe Rede was in his own world, in a lab somewhere, and there were 31 more before him, and he didn't have time to listen to Rude telling him he was a dumbass. Reno already knew he was a dumbass.

He brought up Tseng's number, and he took a breath, and damn it, he wasn't going to fucking cry on the phone to his boss.

It was really fucking hard to put a key in a lock with your hands shaking, and she would stop teasing Reno about it from now on.

Rikku opened the door and stepped inside, holding it open for him to follow.

Wait. He was calling his boss. Uh.

"Should I ... ?" She gestured vaguely. She could go somewhere. Because Important Work Phone Calls were probably not things that girlfriends should eavesdrop on, especially girlfriends that the boss wasn't that thrilled that you had. Right?

She could ... go somewhere. The hall or something. Seriously.

Ringing. Ringing.

Reno shook his head, no, no, no, you can't leave right now, I need you, and he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his room along with him.

Ringing.

Pick up, Tseng. Damn you.

Then she was here, right here, curled into his side and placing a light kiss on his neck. She'd be quiet. She'd stay close. And if there was more rain, when he had to explain Rede to his boss, she'd never tell.

She waited expectantly for someone to pick up. Somehow she figured the Turks were the on-call sort.

"Tseng." It was his standard greeting.

"Boss." It was Reno's standard, too. Minus the 'yo' and with a little less easygoing 'whatever-vibe' than usual. "I, uh."

....

"I gotta call my report in, this week. Early." Yeah. That was a great place to start that.

Tseng frowned. Either Reno had encountered some major resistance, or he was about to confess to some high-level rule breaking. Neither could be good. "Go on."

Reno took a deep breath. Right.

"The island had another... random invasion," he ventured. And he'd jump in again with, "but nothin' dangerous, I swear," before Tseng could yell at him for getting involved.

"Still serious enough to warrant an early report," Tseng noted. "How so?"

"It was an influx of... children, sir." Ruba and Rede and Riina and even evil little Cissney, and Reno had to take another deep breath. "Possible future children, from alternate universes or timelines, zoto."

[

the_merriest be the Tseng of awesome woo!]

Edited 2008-05-01 04:22 (UTC)

This conversation required the standard serious-conversation set-up. Which meant piling the bedding in a heap and arranging both of them against it and snuggling in. He was okay. Ruba curled up on his lap for naps, and Rede was a full-fledged Turk now, and Cissney was off destroying the world and ... well, Riina was probably stopping her. Still. He was okay. Right?

He'd be fine. If he told himself that enough, Reno would be fine. He took another deep breath, wriggled back into the pillows and pulled her tightly against his chest, and waited for Tseng to say something. Anything.

Tseng raised an eyebrow. This was what Reno had called for? There had to be something darker coming, but he couldn't resist commenting on the obvious. "Dare I ask how many you had?"

"Four, sir. Three daughters. And a... a clone, sir." It sounded like a swear word, saying it like that. He curled his lip a little and shut his eyes and he had to take another deep breath. Shit shit shit.

Now, he had Tseng's full attention. "A clone? Like the Genesis and Angeal copies?"

Reno winced at that.

"Nothin' so nasty, sir," he replied. And it was a quiet, tentative sort of reply. "He was a kid. Came complete with free will and a hate of broccoli. He was..." Spit it out spit it out spit it OUT, Reno. "Hojo made him. Some kinda Turk cloning program, sir. He was half me, half Rude. He was number 32." He paused for a moment. He hated leaving him as a number. "We named him Rede when we found him, zoto."

Edited 2008-05-01 04:42 (UTC)

She was going to lace her fingers through the hand of his that wasn't holding the phone. And squeeze. And snuggle in that much more. She was here. He could do this. For Rede.

Okay, her other hand was dabbing at her eyes a little, but she was trying to be subtle with that so he didn't notice. Not because she thought he'd mind, but because she was trying to be strong for him, dammit.

That was appreciated. A lot. Because Reno would be having one hell of a time keeping himself from cracking if not for the fingers he was holding in his own.

Tseng's blood ran cold. Hojo. Turk cloning program. He flipped open his laptop and began typing furiously. "Hojo never had authorization --" he started, before biting it off. No point wasting words on obvious statements. Hojo never bothered with authorizations in his life.

"In Rede's reality, Hojo was still alive, I guess." Reno was going to press on, here, because if he didn't, he'd be curling up and freaking out for sending the kid back. Damn it damn it damn it anyhow. "We... so sure he's dead, here?"

"Positive," said Tseng, entering passwords he knew by heart and navigating what was left of ShinRa's classified database. "I'll be verifying that personally. Did the kid give any indication of the location or scope of this program?"

This would be easier if Hojo kept accurate records. Which was probably why he didn't.

"No clue where he was at. Rede didn't know, either. But it'd have to be someplace with the... resources for that kinda shit to go down, right? And somewhere that Turks who're actually gonna give a shit ain't gonna trip into?" Reno was talking pretty numbly, now. His lips were moving on his own and he was trying not to listen to what he was saying and he was pulling Rikku close and pressing his forehead into her hair. "He was... number 32, boss. Means there were at least 31 other kids before him, not just of me an' Rude, and fuck only knows how many after."

If she brought his hand up to her lips, she could nuzzle against it, kiss it. That would have to do for now, since she couldn't throw the stupid phone across the room and hold him. He had to talk to his boss, his boss could find Rede if he was out there, and so Rikku wasn't allowed to throw the phone yet even if Reno sounded like he was inches away from falling apart.

"Love you," she breathed, hoping it was soft enough the phone wouldn't pick it up. Please?

Reno gave her a squeeze, and he gave a nod, and he mouthed the words right back. It was a pretty sensitive phone, but to hell with all of it, it was good to hear.

If Tseng heard, he was at least diplomatic enough to keep it to himself. Or too distracted by his indexing to notice, though that was less likely. "We can hope Hojo's numbering system was atypical," he said, not believing it himself. 31 others. His, Reno's, Rude's, Cissnei's, and that was going to sting. "Hojo had at least one lab facility referred to only as 'deepground.' Even my clearance can't access those records. Brute-force hacking would take years, but the President has to know where some of the keys are."

Some, but not necessarily all. Rufus Shinra had held the presidency for a damned short time before the whole empire had collapsed, along with the city of Midgar.

"Some's better than... nothin', right?" Reno was holding a breath and he swallowed the lump in his throat and he didn't dare open his mouth again or the rest would come spilling out. That Rede grew up never seeing the sky and nobody ever told him they cared until this weekend and the kid had looked like he was going to break down and fucking cry when he'd been told that he had to go back. Back with a gun. And maybe Tseng would have enough tact to not call Reno on that choked noise he just made.

Better than nothing, but not good enough. Tseng did not accept failure from his Turks, and that went double for himself. Think.

A moment later, there was renewed vigor to his typing. "We're approaching this from the wrong direction," Tseng said.

It was going to take Reno another moment before he could reply. He had to breathe. Okay. This was a good sign, right? Right, it had to be. Okay.

"We are, sir?"

If she sat up a little, she could nuzzle into his neck. Which was ... something. Better than nothing? It felt like nothing, sitting here and waiting and holding on and wishing she could keep him together with her bare hands. She would squeeze harder, just in case she could. He just had to get through the phone call, and then he could fall apart. For Rede, who was heading back to the lab with a gun and who had called her mom and she hoped it was okay that his neck was going to be damp. Dammit. So much for being strong.

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