CHAPTER 2: ASHES
Reno’s Office, Eden Inc. Junon Base, 16 July 1AM, 8:45am
Reno walked towards the door of his Junon office, ready to be greeted by Tseng.
"Tseng!!"
It wasn’t Tseng. It was Reeve.
"Reno... I’m afraid I have some bad news. Sit down."
"What is it?"
"It’s about Tseng... He was murdered this morning."
"No!!"
"I’m sorry Reno. He was meant to be on board the chopper headed for Midgar Ruins an hour ago. I found him myself, in his room, at Nibelheim. He was shot."
Reno walked over to his window, smashing his fist through it. Blood covered his knuckles almost instantly, but he didn’t care. Tseng was a friend, as well as his boss.
"I wish you’d never told me he survived Sephiroth," Reno said quietly.
"We only found that out twenty minutes before I told you last night. He said he’d been living in the forests near Junon, recovering, then went incognito for a while. Only a couple of people knew he was alive. Cloud, yourself and Rude, who I think was out to it when I told him anyway. But obviously somebody else did as well."
"That’s all the people who know?"
"Only you and a few others, nobody you don’t trust."
"I don’t trust anybody. Not even you."
"I wish you felt differently."
"So do I. But I’ve been lied to all my life, it’s pretty hard to turn back now."
"I understand. Do you still want to go ahead with the Midgar 2 assignment?"
"Yes. But I want something else as well."
"What’s that?"
"Permission to investigate Tseng’s murder."
Reeve sighed and put his head in his hands for a moment, which he usually did when he was thinking.
"...... Okay. But be careful. I don’t want any more deaths."
"Of course. You know me."
"I know Tseng was a good friend. I’m sorry."
"So am I," said Reno, and left the room, leaving Reeve wondering why the hell he let Reno get involved.
Nibelheim, Tseng’s room, 16 July 1AM, 12: 35pm
"And you say he was shot?" Reno questioned the young soldier.
The man looked harassed, inexperienced, Reno wondered why he was even asking this poor excuse for a soldier about the murder.
"W-Well, y-yes s-s-sir.."
"What?"
"H-He was.."
"What? What?"
"He w-was.."
"What?"
"He was s-s-s-s-s-shot..."
"What?"
"He was.."
"Ah shutup."
Reno wasn’t in a good mood, and this poor soldier was taking the brunt of his bad temperament. Every lead Reno got went into a dead end. It was frustrating him, not to mention really pissing him off. Tseng had been shot, that was the only sure thing, and there were also bite marks on him. But the bite marks DID seem kind of familiar to Reno, as if he’d seen them somewhere before. He just couldn’t put his finger on it. Reno sat on his haunches and studied the wooden floor he was standing on. Traces of
dried blood, some scratches in the wood. He was about to turn to the guard to launch some more insults to help ease his frustration, when a flash of white on cream
hit his eyes. It was a piece of paper, pressed up against the cream coloured wall.
"Hmmm?" Reno pulled the paper from the wall. The side facing Reno was blank. He flipped it around.
It read: FUSION PROJECT
Reno stared at the words in shock and confusion. It was Rufus’ handwriting, but he was dead. It must have been something he dropped on a trip to Nibelheim or something before Diamond WEAPON attacked. It must have.
Reno slipped the paper into his pocket.
"Make sure nobody comes in here," he said to the guard.
"Y-Yes sir!!"
Reno took his cell phone from his jacket pocket, and dialled in Reeve’s number.
"Hello? Reeve? It’s Reno. I found something in Tseng’s room. Could you tell me, and I think you can, what is the Fusion Project?"
Back to Library
Chapter 3