Guilt’s Cost: Part LX

Wake Up Call

The morning found Quigley in the cafeteria eating. Despite the fact that he’d gotten home only a few hours ago, he had found it impossible to sleep so got up and came here. He picked at the waffles before him thinking about what he had seen back at Shin Ra.

Reno and Angel came in not too much later and they sat at his table opposite him.

Before Reno sat down, he made a point of mussing Quigley’s tousled hair. "Morning, Quiggers."

Quigley cringed from Reno’s pet name for him as well as having to be subjected to Reno’s insistent head rubbing. Why he had always felt the need to stroke Quigley like that he did not know. "I see you’re up to your usual tricks, Reno."

He smiled. "Come on, admit it! You’ve missed me over the last few years."

Quigley’s deadpan expression betrayed the truth. "Oh yes, Reno. I missed being treated like your dog all the time."

"Well how the Hell can I not, what with those big ass puppy dog eyes of yours and all." He nudged Angel slightly, wanting her to partake of the joking.

Quigley was in no mood for this after what he’d been through. "So Angel, I see you’re still with him."

She smiled. "Yes, I’m afraid so."

"I should have hoped that a smart girl would have figured him out by now." Quigley pushed back his plate.

Angel shrugged. "I don’t know what to tell you. I guess I’m not as smart as everyone thinks. So, how about you? Are you still a loner?"

"Well, in light of the fact that I always knew I’d have to leave Midgar someday, coupled with the fact that no woman has ever been the slightest bit interested in me, I have remained single." Quigley said in his usual flat voice.

Reno leaned on his elbows. "Quiggers, what’s this about Cloud being in Hojo’s lab?"

He shrugged. "What’s there to tell? I saw him there, and he was alive contrary to ASRIO’s belief. That’s it."

"You’re sure it was him?" Reno pried.

"I’m not an idiot, Reno." Quigley folded his arms over his chest. "It was Cloud, plain and simple."

Angel hung her head, hearing this directly from Quigley took away any doubt. "I can’t believe it…"

Quigley narrowed his eyes. "I heard about Tseng, I’m sorry. But before his attack, did he say anything about what he thought?"

Angel grew angry. "Tseng intends for us to rescue Cloud, whether he wants to be rescued or not."

"Angel, you don’t sound too happy about that." Quigley showed some surprise.

"Because in order to get Cloud to go with us, he wants to send Tifa Lockheart in." Angel tore her napkin in two.

"And what’s the problem with that? She is his wife." Quigley was intrigued.

Angel’s voice raised slightly. "She was his wife, until he tried to kill himself. Tifa is now involved with my father."

Quigley raised his eyebrows. "Vincent Valentine? Tifa Lockheart is with Vincent Valentine? How did that happen?"

"It’s a long story, but it doesn’t matter. Do you have any idea what it will do the both of them to know that Cloud is alive?" Her face grew dark with emotion.

"So no one has yet told either Ms. Lockheart or Mr. Valentine?" Quigley asked.

"No, we haven’t had a chance to tell Tifa yet. She just got back from Mideel." Angel sighed. "It turns out that Sephiroth has been living there for the last seven years. His mind was completely erased after the battle, and he’s a new man."

Quigley stared at her agog.

"She and Cid brought him back here." She said; amused at the expression Quigley wore.

"Sephiroth is here?" Quigley couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Reno mimicked Angel’s voice. "Oh, but don’t call him that! His name is Jaras now."

Quigley nodded. "And Mr. Valentine? You haven’t said anything about him."

"He is in a stasis box." Angel hung her head.

Quigley had been unfortunate enough to get quite an education about stasis boxes having worked for Hojo. "Why?"

"The Chaos demon that Hojo embedded into his DNA makes him too dangerous to keep around. So Tseng ordered him into the box." Angel’s pain was tangible.

Reno glanced around the room, seeing that they were still alone. "But I’m getting him out of that box, so when Tseng gets better and decides to send Tifa to get Cloud, Vinny can go with them."

"Good to know you still look out for Tseng’s best interests." Quigley smiled for the first time in a while.

"Hey, someone’s got to keep things exciting around here." Reno got up from the table. He wanted to go check some things out. "Hey Angel, I’ve got to go out for a bit. Don’t get in any trouble, all right?"

She gave him a short kiss. "Yes master."

Reno strolled out and toward the hall where Tifa’s room was. Just as he prepared to round the corner, he heard Tifa’s voice and he stopped to listen.

Tifa had come out into the hall and had literally run right in to Jaras. He was still incredibly embarrassed from the night before and he tried to turn to head back into his room, but Tifa had grabbed his wrist and held him in place.

"Jaras, I need to talk to you." She said quietly.

He just stared down at where she was holding his arm.

"Look, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings last night." She let her hand fall away from him. "I’m really flattered that you think of me in that way, but I’m in love with Vincent. I need you to understand that."

He kept his gaze to the floor, wishing that he could just disappear. "I do understand, and I’m sorry. I should have shown better restraint, but…"

She truly felt bad for him. "But what?"

Finally he brought his eyes up to meet hers. The sadness that had been there the night before was still obvious. "It’s just that you’re so beautiful, and you’ve been so kind to me."

"I’m sorry if you got the wrong impression. I like you, I really do, but we haven’t known each other that long and like I said before, I’m in love with Vincent." Tifa stepped closer to him, wishing that her words weren’t hurting him.

Although he knew that she was just trying to make him feel better, he shriveled inside. "I won’t try anything again."

Tifa stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. "Thank you. I do want to be your friend, but that’s all we can be."

Her closeness to him was not helping. "Okay."

Tifa smiled, deciding that she had made her point. It was time to change the subject. "Well, do you want to go with me to see Cid off?"

"Yes." Jaras said and they made their way down the hall together.

Reno allowed his head to fall back against the wall. "God Damn it. I got to get Vincent out before she does something stupid."

He ran to Tseng’s room as fast as he could. Being the only one in the base that had a key to this room other than Tseng himself, entry was no problem. He searched the room, finding what he had come for lying on the dresser. Reno slipped the found key ring into his pocket and then left hurriedly.

Reno ended up in the detention block and went into Vincent’s cell. He stood over the box for several moments, contemplating what he was going to do. He pulled his electric night staff from his side and flicked it open. Energy cracked from the end of it and Reno walked to the head of the casket. Here there was located a small control panel. After checking the room to make sure that no one was watching him, he let the electrified end of the staff tap against the metal panel. There was an audible crack as the stasis box was overloaded and the current was conducted through the thing causing Vincent’s unconscious body to jump within.

Upon realizing that by hitting the box he had also shocked Vincent Reno apologized. "Sorry, Vinny. Didn’t mean to scare you." He hit the button on the side of his staff that caused it to power down and retract. He tucked it back away.

The control panel sparked for a few moments, and then the low hum of the stasis box stopped, indicating that it was no longer functional. "Aw shit, Vinny. Looks like the sleeping beauty box done busted. Guess I better get you out before you suffocate. Don’t think Tifa would like that."

Reno knelt next to the box and pulled Tseng’s keys from his pocket. He found the one that matched the lock on the side of the casket and unlocked it. Before raising the lid and awakening Vincent, Reno had to steel himself.

"Can’t believe I’m fucking doing you this kind of a favor, old man. But I can’t have Tifa gettin’ hurt cause then Angel’d get all upset. I can’t let that happen. So don’t think this means I like you, cause I don’t, at least not enough to care one way or the other about you getting out of there. Besides, I’m tired of waiting and I’m gonna marry Angel so you have to be there. All right?" Reno said to the box.

He reached out and with one fluid motion opened the box. Wisps of fog rose from within as the gases inside escaped into the room. Reno got up and took a step back.

As the haze cleared, Vincent’s form was visible lying there. He was still asleep.

Reno was expecting him to just sort of pop out and was disappointed. "Hey Vinny, you coming out of there?"

Vincent drew in his first breath of room air. As his body was pulled out of the stasis sleep, he groaned.

For a moment, Reno was afraid that his shock to the box and Vincent might have been a little too much. "Vinny? Come on, man. Get up!"

The first thing that moved was Vincent’s cybernetic arm. It came up and over, grasping the edge of the box. After a few more moments Vincent sat up and opened his eyes. It would be a few more minutes before he was able to talk or stand.

Reno was slightly relieved. "You really know how to scare the Hell out of someone, you know?"

Vincent turned and looked at him blankly. Why Reno was the only one here puzzled him.

"Expecting Tifa, weren’t you?" Reno crossed his arms, tickled to see some emotion on Vincent’s face.

He nodded slightly as he dropped his gaze back down. God, I hope she’s all right. Why wouldn’t she be here? Have I been out so long that she quit waiting?

Reno could see what was on his mind. "She ain’t here cause she don’t know I’m springing you from there. She’ll be just tickled shitless though when she finds out."

He cleared his throat. It was dry and made talking hard. "Why… are you letting me out?"

"If you had been paying attention earlier you may have recalled that I told you not to go in there in the first place you pain in the ass." Reno furrowed his brow. The world would be a lot nicer if people just listened to him every once in a while.

"So… you’re not letting me out because there is a cure?" Vincent’s heart was sinking.

"Nope." Reno hated to break it to him, but wasn’t going to lie. "I’m letting you out so you can take care of Tifa. And my baby needs you too. It may have only been a few days, but they’re driving me nuts."

"A few days?" Vincent closed his eyes in bitter disappointment. It certainly felt longer than that to him. He laid back down and reached for the lid.

"Hey!" Reno ran forward and kicked the lid back up. Vincent looked up at him from inside with great annoyance. "Look here you mother fucker! You get your sorry ass out of there and go take care of Tifa! You’re breaking her heart and I can’t take it anymore. You can fight that demon, I know you can, so just do it, be a man and get the fuck OUT!"

Vincent just blinked up at him in amazement. Apparently Reno had forgotten how easily he could kill him if he so chose.

"Yeah, if looks could kill, right?" Reno scoffed. "Like it or not, you have to come out. The box is toast. I don’t think it’ll ever play the piano again."

Vincent narrowed his eyes in confusion. Reno’s words made no sense, and he was fairly certain it wasn’t because his mind was clouded from the stasis. "Piano?"

"Oh the fuck!" Reno reached down and grabbed Vincent’s normal arm and pulled him up to his feet. "We’re going."

Vincent was still too weak from the hibernation to resist as Reno dragged him out of the detention block.