Tseng heard the phone clatter to the ground. There was silence. The sound of Yazoo’s voice.
“Reno?” Tseng asked the phone, not expecting response but hoping for one nonetheless. He strained to listen. Suddenly from the other side he heard not crying, but weeping. He hung up, feeling slightly sick to his stomach. It was times like this Tseng almost felt like going up to the President’s office and throw his gun and ID down on his desk. It had been the same way with Zack Fair. Zack had been his friend, then…
Tseng shook his head forcefully. He wasn’t going to think about Zack. He simply wasn’t going to. Not at a time like this. He had preparations to make, a job to do. After all, he was a Turk.
“Sir, what is the meaning of this?” Elena had entered her boss’s office, and it was obvious from her face she was furious. “Tell me how we can justify this! We find out Reno’s happy and we’re going to take it away from him! I might not have known Reno since he was a kid like Rude, but that man was unhappy. You could tell. Rude told me, his father was murdered in front of him when he was 13, and he hasn’t been the same since!”
“I know,” Tseng said, defeated. He stood and walked over to Elena.
“You know? Well that’s fucking great Tseng, why don’t you do something?” she shouted. “This is wrong Tseng. It’s murder. He’s innocent, Yazoo’s innocent! He’s changed, you can tell! You’re the god damn Director, why can’t you do anything? Fourteen years Reno has been looking for happiness. We can’t do this to them, it’s cruel!”
“This company is cruel,” Tseng said bitterly. “It’s all it ever has been. I tried to tell the President everything you just said, but you know how he is. Elena, I swear I did everything I could to stop this from happening.”
Elena looked into her Director’s deep brown eyes and she could tell he was being truthful. Honesty and anger both burned in those eyes. He didn’t like this any more than she did. Elena threw her arms around Tseng and began to cry hot tears of frustration.
“It isn’t fair Tseng,” she cried into his suit jacket. “How can we work for a place like this?”
Tseng placed a hand on her shoulder, his face stony. Honestly, he didn’t know any better than her.
Rude was walking to Reno’s house, as per the Director’s instructions. He knew Reno would be taking this hard, and he didn’t want him to do anything stupid. Rude on the other hand almost wanted Reno to do something stupid, to make a run for it, but he knew it would end about as badly as Cloud and Zack’s attempted escape from the Shinra Mansion.
When he arrived at his partner’s apartment, things were surprisingly quiet. Yazoo sat on the couch, Reno asleep in his lap. His large bright eyes were focused on the TV, which was playing a cartoon of some sort on its screen. Yet something was off. The volume on the TV was down so low you couldn’t even hear it. The whites of Yazoo’s eyes seemed to be red and inflamed. He looked up and smiled sadly as Rude entered the room.
“I just got him to calm down,” Yazoo said quietly. Rude nodded.
“What about you?” he inquired. “Are you all right?” The Remnant nodded slowly.
“I knew this was going to happen. In all honesty, I was supposed to go back as soon as I delivered the message. But there was something about… him.” Rude nodded to indicate he was listening. Yazoo sighed and continued. “I’m glad I got to come here at all. The time I got to spend with him was a gift, because had I never come back he would have hated me forever.”
“I’m sorry,” the bald man said. Yazoo just shook his head.
“Don’t. I’ve made peace with this. I have, I swear.” He looked up at Rude and stared right into his eyes. “Did your scientists ever figure out how we came into existence? The Remnants?” Rude paused, and then shook his head. They had an idea, but the truth had never solidly been discovered.
“They say we are Sephiroth’s will given human form, but this in itself is only partially true,” Yazoo began to explain. “We lived on this planet long ago, long before Midgar was even built. My brothers and I were orphans. Loz was the oldest, but we all knew it was Kadaj who really looked after us. One day we were in the Northern Mountains, exploring, when we saw a bright light in the sky. We tried to get out of the way, but whatever hit us was far too big to be escaped.” Rude swallowed. He had a feeling the Northern Mountains became the Northern Crater on the very day the Remnant was describing. “We spent the next two thousand years waiting in the Lifestream for whatever might come. Sephiroth entered the Lifestream around this time, and though we never met him his presence changed us. The next thing we knew, we had left the Lifestream. We could remember nothing, only that we wanted to find our ‘Mother.’ You know what happened next.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Rude asked.
“I don’t know,” Yazoo admitted. He stared at the ground. “Are you staying here?” he asked after a while. Rude made an affirmative head gesture. “We’ll let you sleep then,” Yazoo said, lifting Reno as if he were but a feather. Rude watched as the Remnant carried his Partner into the bedroom, and he felt sad. The President had no idea what he was doing.
Yazoo laid Reno gently down in his bed and tried not to wake him, however as he sat on the end of the bed, the redhead stirred.
“What is it?” Reno asked sleepily. Yazoo looked to him and laid down next to him.
“Go back to sleep,” he said. “You don’t want to be awake, believe me.” Reno nodded.
“I know,” he said sadly. Yazoo ran his hands though Reno’s hair a few times until he closed his eyes. Yazoo sighed.
“I’m glad I got to meet you again Reno,” he said, closing his eyes as well.
“So am I,” Reno replied. “I love you.”
