“Transcending Reality” by: Emerald Eyes
“Hey, Pretty. Don’t ya wanna
take a ride with me through my world?” –Poe
<When people play video
games they never think twice about the plotline, the characters, the events.
It’s all “hey, I’m gonna kick the antagonist’s ass” or “damn it, I died! Now I
have to replay that whole section over again!”
They never think twice: never notice how serious it is. When people die,
they die, as in gone, dead, done in. Forever. There
isn’t any ‘game over’ screen that flashes up or any button on the system that
restarts the game. When life is done, it’s done. But one would guess someone
really couldn’t blame them for not noticing it. It’s just a video game. Sure, the
characters may be outstanding, and the plotline may seem almost
real… but it’s still only a game, something created on a caprice by a
mastermind with a great imagination. But… nothing is ever just what it
seems to be, now is it?>
^_^_^_^
After what seemed like hours of
trying to coax passerby in cars to stop alongside the road,
“Hey, Sexy. Want a ride?” a
feminine voice taunted from the front seat.
“I—I, uh,” he stuttered, and then
ended lamely with, “sure.” The woman gestured towards the passenger seat and
As soon as
“What’s your name?” she asked,
taking her shining eyes off the road to stare into his emerald ones.
“Reno,” the Turk responded after
he had enough time to compose himself, “And what might yours be?” he asked,
this time with a little more confidence.
“Jessica,” she said, and giggled,
a light melodious laugh. “What’s up with the suit?” she asked, indicating his
blue attire.
“What? This?” he asked in mock
confusion. He tried to avoid the subject. “Forget about it. It’s nothing.”
“So,” the girl asked lightly,
trying to start a conversation, “Where do you come from?” She flashed him a seductive
smile that made his cheeks flush. He decided that if all the women on Earth
were as hot as this one, he’d have to stay there.
“Mid—“ he stopped in the middle of
the word, only then realizing that he had almost made a very grave mistake.
“Far away… someplace far away,” he covered quickly, “I’m not from around here
so I don’t know the area too well.” He offered her a weak smile. The lady had a
certain charisma about her that made a person, especially one like Reno, open
up to her. If he wasn’t careful enough, he might just end up telling her
everything. <God, I’m starting to act like Elena!>
“Oh,” the lady said simply,
sensing that he was hiding something, but not wanting to push the question,
“Okay then…” she pursed her crimson lips, trying to think of another good
question. Her hair shimmered in the wind as cars rolled by on the opposite side
of the road. Her golden locks flowed in the warm nighttime air of late June.
Reno stared at her figure underneath tight leather pants and a red tube top.
“What do you do?” Jessica finally
asked him, her eyes filled with curiosity as the full moon cast silver
highlights about her face.
“Huh?” Reno asked dumbly, taken
back by her speaking so suddenly and unexpectedly.
“You know, Silly!” she reprimanded
teasingly, “What do you do? What’s your job?”
His eyes went wide. What was
he supposed to tell her? Then a thought hit him and he smiled at the idea. “If
I told you I’d have to kill you,” he watched amusedly as she pouted, “Sorry,
babe. It’s confidential. That’s just the way it is.”
As soon as he said that, Jessica’s
face brightened, delighted about Reno’s little game. “By the way, Secret Agent
Man,” she said, designating him a new nickname, “You never told me where you
wanted me to take you?” she paused and then added cryptically, “I’ll drive you
anywhere your heart desires.”
“Good,” he said simply, “Can you
drop me off at Blackwood?”
Her smile faded and was quickly
replaced by a worried frown. “Blackwood? But isn’t that where that crazy man
is?” Reno’s only response was to stare at her apathetically, and she continued
heatedly, “Listen. I’m not going there and I’m not going to let you go, either.
Haven’t you heard? The whole town is in chaos! And I don’t know about you, but
I don’t want to die!” She sighed, and then said more softly, “I’m turning the
car around.”
Now it was Reno’s turn to sigh.
His hand reached for something hidden in the wrinkles of his shirt and jacket
at his left hip. He pulled out the standard issue handgun that each Turk was
required to have, and aimed it directly at Jessica’s head. “I’m sorry, babe,”
he said, emotionless, with only a slight hint of amusement twinkling in his
eyes, “but you ARE going to Blackwood.”
The girl’s eyes widened half in
fright, and half in dangerous wonder. She let out a startled gasp. “Oh my God!”
she exclaimed, “Don’t shoot me!”
Reno merely chuckled and smiled at
her deviously.
“All right. I’ll take you,”
Jessica said, giving in to his mirthless laughter, “But I’m not going in,” she
added quickly.
This caused the redhead’s laughter
to increase. “I didn’t ask you to come with me, Honey. I wouldn’t want a pretty
chick like you to get yourself killed.”
Some of the woman’s fear
dissipated, her previous mischievous grin taking its place. “Now, that doesn’t
mean YOU have to get yourself killed.”
She took her eyes off the road to
throw a sideways glance at Reno, looking into his cold eyes. He stared back
into her eyes and laughed. Not cold and cruel like before, but a good-natured
laugh. “I’ll try not to.”
The gun still pointed at the girl,
but she seemed a little less wary of it now. And he knew that even if he didn’t
have the gun at her head, she would still drive him to Blackwood. Not out of
fear, but of another unidentifiable emotion that he couldn’t quite comprehend. <Heh,
what do you know? The chick trusts a Turk, of all people.>
Reno smiled and leaned back in the
reclining passenger seat of the car. He gazed up at the stars, at the
unfamiliar burning embers that bunched together to form unknown constellations.
It was ironic, and funny in its own way, how peaceful they were. He was on
another planet, in another dimension; in the farthest place he could ever be
from his home. But there seemed to be something unforgettable about the moment,
something special, like it would be the last peaceful memory he would ever
have.
And perhaps it would be.
^_^_^_^
He couldn’t recall exactly when it
happened or when he noticed it, but the bright orange glow grew, managing to
block out the meager light of the stars against a midnight sky. It took him but
a moment to figure out what it was.
“It smells like something’s
burning,” Reno blandly stated, sitting up in his seat when he noticed the sour
odor of soot.
Jessica shot a worried glance
towards the sky, noticing the falling crimson embers. “Are…” he voice faltered,
choking up with fear, “Are those ashes?”
Reno looked up towards the sky
dismally, trying not to notice what he saw, “Yeah.”
Jessica’s face twisted into an
ambivalent mix of hate, fear, and despair as they drove closer to the town. The
ambiance didn’t look any better as they drove forward. A thick orange glow
blocked even the moon out now, as well as the thick black smoke that looked
like ominous rain clouds. There were now so many scarlet ashes lighting the sky
up that it gave the impression that it was raining fire.
The girl let out a small cry when
the first set of houses came into view. Some were on fire, some were not. There
seemed to be no pattern to it; the flames seemed to have been set at random. It
was almost as if the arsonist didn’t care what he lit as long as it could cause
panic and chaos.
The blonde haired girl abruptly
brought the car to a stop about a hundred yards before the first burning house.
“This is it,” she said, her voice wavering distraughtly, “I go no further.”
Reno didn’t hear the statement. He
was lost in his own thoughts. The scene of death indisputably reminded him of
an old file he had read at Headquarters once, and had had it visualized though
a cut scene in Final Fantasy VII. “My God,” he said, barely above a whisper,
“It’s like the Nibelheim incident all over again.”
“What!?” Jessica glared at him suspiciously, “What are you talking
about?”
Reno winced. He did it again: he
let information slip. “Oh, nothing,” he offered her a weak smile, but didn’t
bother to hide the fact that he was intimidated, “It’s more of that classified,
top secret stuff, remember?”
The girl was not amused this time.
Her frown only grew more incredulous. She shook her head slightly, her mouth
hanging agape. “Who ARE you?”
Reno opened up the door and
stepped out of the car. He turned to look her directly in the eyes. His
expression was cold once again. “I’m a Turk,” he answered stoically. Shutting
the car door, he turned and walked away. And he never looked back.
Jessica stared after him for a
moment, shocked over his peculiar attitude, then peeled out of the town with an
extremely disturbed look on her face, the tires on the car screeching in
protest.
^_^_^_^
After seeing the town as it was
that night, it was hard to believe one could once describe Blackwood with the
word ‘quaint.’
Yes, it used to be that way once;
at least that was how Alex had described it. Only now it seemed like it never
was. It seemed almost inconceivable that there were ever peaceful woodlands
surrounding the main road leading into town, or children playing happily in the
streets.
Now the place looked like hell,
and Rufus was anything but thrilled to be at ground zero of the catastrophe.
Rufus was on edge: paranoid and
ready to run at the first sign of trouble. His efforts to conceal his fear
proved fruitless.
Alex, leading the blonde haired
man into the hellish town, turned his head around to see if the ex-president
was still following. He then veered off into dark side street tucked in between
two presently-vacant houses. Rufus trailed behind and continued after the man.
The alley was completely black
except for the amber light of not-so-distant fires reflecting off of Alex’s
near-emotionless face.
<Fire.> Ever
since the incident with Diamond Weapon, Rufus had discovered he now had an
intense, almost primal, fear of fire. The memory of explosion all around him
and his flesh burning was too fresh in his mind for him not to.
Rufus stared at Alex expectantly.
The other man noticed something peculiar about the blonde’s eyes, and returned
the stare suspiciously. The ex-president’s eyes glowed a faintly pale shade of
azure. It was barely noticeable, but it was there. “Rufus, your eyes are
glowing.”
“So?” the other answered indifferently,
“They have mako in them. What’s your point?”
Alex cocked his head to the side
confusingly. “I thought only members of SOLDIER were infused with mako?”
Rufus shook his head. “No. All the
important members of ShinRa are—WERE—infused
with mako… with the exception of the Turks that is. But it’s next to nothing
compared to the high levels of mako SOLDIERs were exposed with.
Alex nodded his head slowly,
trying to comprehend the information. “Oh,” he said simply. He was about to ask
why the Turks were never infused with mako when Rufus interrupted him.
“Where are we going?” the blonde
asked in an apprehensive voice, “You don’t know where he’s at! What makes you
think he’s at the end of some dingy side alleyway?”
“This is a shortcut,” Alex
responded, not bothering to look back at the blonde, “It leads to the center of
town. Sephiroth’s there.”
“How do you—?” the ex-president
was cut off abruptly by a cacophony of shouts that seemed oddly different than
the screams of agony heard from the fires.
Before either of them knew what
was going on, the street they were previously on was overrun by troops. Rufus
stared bemusedly out at the soldiers in camouflage running purposely though the
streets, his bewildered expression throwing an unasked question at Alex.
“The U.S. Army,” Alex responded,
his face becoming grim, “I knew they’d get involved. With Sephiroth destroying
an entire town completely on his own, it’s kind of impossible for them NOT to notice.”
“The military?” Rufus asked
absently, his ambiguous expression changing to one of awe and longing. <I used to own an entire army… but not anymore.>
They both watched in stunned
silence as the troops undulated by, wave after wave of them. In the ambiguous
throng of soldiers and vehicles, an occasional tank could be seen. “Whoa,” a
stunned Alex commented, “They must REALLY
think something’s up to bring in half of the fucking army!”
Soldiers moved deftly thought the fires,
searching every crevice, every corner, for anything suspicious. One moved
unnervingly close to the alley and Alex backed up into the shadows with Rufus
quickly following his example.
Another soldier passed alarmingly
close to the alleyway’s opening. This time, the man took the opportunity to
search the looming darkness. The man, clad in camouflage, held his m-16 rifle
unwavering in front of him. He glared suspiciously at the shadows as the two
unnoticed men beside him held their breath. The uniformed man turned to them,
and just as it seemed their hideaway would be revealed, the soldier dropped
unceremoniously to the grimy pavement.
Rufus stood behind him, his face
beaming with a complacent grin. He reached down and pulled the gun from the
unconscious soldier’s grip. “Come on,” he said, noting with amusement the
shocked expression on Alex’s face, “I don’t think they’ll take kindly to us
once they’ve discovered I knocked one of their men unconscious and stole his
weapon.” He looked down into the murky depths of the alleyway. “How do you know
that Sephiroth’s down there, anyhow?”
Alex shook his head sadly and
whispered, “I was just following the screams.”
Neither of them spoke the rest of
the way into town. The only sound was of cackling fire and the cacophony of
screams.
^_^_^_^
Everyone was afraid to even move.
He kept them there like frightened animals, like prey. And Sephiroth was ready
to pounce.
Reno was frozen also, lost within
the crowd of terrified spectators, but the redhead wasn’t terrified. He was
determined, willing his feet to stay rooted to the pavement. The Turk looked
ahead to the silver-haired man, his face set in an obdurate frown. He wanted to
take out Sephiroth; that was all fine and good, but… he didn’t exactly know how
he was going to pull it off.
A minute ago, he had had a lot
more options. It was chaos then: people were running and screaming, not caring
where they were going as long as they weren’t standing still. It would have
been a perfect opportunity to strike at the General while he was unawares, but
then the man had spoken in an ominously cold voice, commanding: “Be silent!”
The crowd, surprisingly, had
listened. Reno couldn’t comprehend why, but he had listened too. The throng of
horrified faces around him had acknowledged the fact that Sephiroth radiated
malevolence even if you didn’t really
know what he was capable of.
And now the only option left that
the redhead thought was remotely plausible was to somehow play the role of a
sniper. Reno sighed. He always preferred his nightstick over his gun. He had
bad aim… VERY bad aim. But he still
used his pistol whenever it was absolutely necessary, however much he despised
it. After all, the redhead WAS a
Turk, and all Turks knew how to use a gun and use it well. But Reno had to be
the worst gunman in the history of the Turks, and he didn’t think he had the
skills (or the confidence) to take out the General without injuring a few
civilians.
Sighing in submission, the redhead
started scanning his surroundings for an acceptable place to fire his weapon at
the insane SOLDIER. Vaguely, his hearing picked up the cold voice of Sephiroth
again, but he wasn’t listening. He pushed his way though empty faces, staring
in morose wonder at the man with the mako eyes. He could almost picture it in
his mind: Sephiroth floating above the crowd, in all his godlike presence,
awing them with his ethereal abilities.
It almost made him laugh. The man
still wanted to destroy the world. Reno wasn’t really listening to Sephiroth’s
speech at all, but fragments of it slightly piqued his interest; parts like ‘My
ancestors perished long ago because of you,’ and ‘Humans destroyed the Cetra,
now I will summon the Calamity from the Skies to tear this planet apart.’ Reno
couldn’t understand the General no matter how hard he tried. <We’re on a completely different planet! The
people here aren’t responsible at all for the Ancients… but Sephiroth is so
bent on destruction that to him, all humans are the same, and all deserve to
die.>
But Reno had time to contemplate
the matter no more, as he had found the perfect place to carry out his plans.
It was on the roof of a tiny building not more than ten feet away.
His expression changing
drastically from amused to grim, he climbed on top of the dumpster on the side
of the building. From there, he boosted himself up a measly six feet onto the
roof. The roof was smooth and black. Puddles of water collected in some places
as a result of a recent rain.
Reno moved deftly against the
second story wall, keeping his eyes peeled for anything unusual. He rounded the
bend with celerity, and involuntarily took a sharp intake of breath. What he
discovered was what he had least expected.
A man in a camouflage uniform was
perched on the ledge, crouching so as not to be seen by the crowd or by the one
terrorizing it. He had a rifle pointed intently at Sephiroth, whose silver hair
was now cut short, and whose black leather clothes were traded for something
more local. But the image of Sephiroth was still intimidating, and the man with
the rifle was about to fire on him.
<Heh,> Reno
thought, <looks like someone beat me
to the job.>
The redhead carefully made his way
back around the corner before the uniformed man sensed his presence. He watched
as the man aimed with deadly accuracy. Better than his, better accuracy than a
Turk. He watched as the man’s index finger came to the trigger. He watched as
the trigger was inevitably being pushed inward…
“SEPHIROTH, YOU FUCKING PRICK!!!”
Reno was distracted by the
unexpected voice. The man in camouflage was distracted by the voice. And most
devastatingly, Sephiroth was distracted by the voice. He turned his aquamarine mako
eyes on the crowd, floating forward, scanning the frightened faces for the one
who dared defy the silence.
Sephiroth moved out of the
uniformed man’s direct line of sight and he cursed, setting his rifle down angrily
beside him. He reached into one of the numerous pockets lining his uniform and
revealed a walkie-talkie, speaking heatedly into the mouthpiece.
Reno lost interest in the cursing,
elite man and also began scanning the crowd for the one who had so audaciously
spoken up. The voice sounded oddly familiar to Reno, as if he knew it from
somewhere.
Suddenly, gunfire was heard, and
bullets riddled the levitating form of Sephiroth. At least, Reno thought they had hit the man. Sephiroth
laughed as another round of bullets smashed head-on into the demigod. Reno
gasped. The bullets bounced off of a high-density magic barrier, one much more
powerful than a Wall spell.
The man in camouflage dropped his
walkie-talkie and stared at the demigod in disbelief. Reno cursed. And the man
who had spoken earlier spoke again.
“You ruined my life!”
Sephiroth let out a demeaning
laugh. “Is this CLOUD that I am
speaking to?”
“You’re comparing me to HIM!?” the voiced asked superciliously. Reno
knew that voice. It wasn’t Cloud’s. It sounded more like… There. He spotted the
owner of the voice. It was a young blonde man who looked no older than a
teenager, but the hair wasn’t spiked, and the eyes weren’t seeping with mako.
It most definitely was not Cloud. The Turk shook his head. He knew the boy from
somewhere. “I used to be the most powerful man on the entire planet!!!”
Sephiroth finally spotted the boy
who was making the ruckus. The look he was giving the silver-haired man was so
deadly that it belied his age. A rifle exactly like the one the uniformed man
had was resting in his grasp, pointing directly at Sephiroth’s head. The boy
didn’t seem to care that the weapon was useless.
Reno’s mouth dropped. The boy was
incognito, but he saw past the façade. He recognized the deadly glare, the
venom in his voice. It was Rufus Shinra. “I don’t believe it!” Reno shouted out
in disbelief, “What the hell does he think he’s doing!?”
Rufus spoke up again, this time in
a calmer, but no less deadly voice, “I’m sure you’ve recognized me by now. I’m
Rufus Shinra, remember? You killed my father with that… Masamune.” He glared at the sword in the SOLDIER’s right hand
contemptuously. “But I didn’t care about him. I cared about the company. But,
Sephiroth, whenever you used the Black Materia, whenever you summoned Meteor, you
woke up the Weapons.” Rufus sighed and smiled at Sephiroth evilly, “Yes, there
was Sapphire Weapon, Emerald Weapon, Ruby Weapon, Ultima Weapon, and…” Rufus
gasped mockingly, “…Diamond Weapon! You do
remember Diamond Weapon, don’t you?”
Reno stared over the edge of the
building, his eyes so wide the white could be seen completely around the
irises. He winced at the ex-president’s tirade. “Shut. The. Fuck. Up,” he said in between clenched teeth.
Sephiroth laughed in amusement and
responded to the blonde’s paroxysm. “Rufus Shinra, what a surprise. I thought
you were dead.”
“The same thing that’s kept you
alive has kept me alive.” All eyes were either on Sephiroth or Rufus now, a
slight pang of confusion overrunning their fear.
“Oh, really?” the General
responded, not the least bit surprised, “Then that would explain why you’re not
on the correct planet.”
“Why are you HERE? There’s no Lifestream here. You can’t become ‘one with the
planet,’” someone else spoke up. It was the person next to Rufus. Reno
squinted, trying to see past the glare of the fire. He couldn’t make out any
features, but he did come to the conclusion that the man had short black hair. <It’s probably Alex,> the redhead
thought, <but why any of them can't
learn to keep quiet is beyond me! They’re going to get themselves killed!>
“On the contrary,” the
silver-haired man replied, “There IS
a Lifestream here, as well as on every other planet that houses life.” Yes,
Reno could tell now. It was Alex that
had asked the question, however stupid the question may have been. <Sephiroth’s right. There’s a Lifestream on
every planet, including this one… isn’t there?> Now that he thought
about it, he wasn’t so sure. He grew up in a place where there was a
Lifestream, on a planet that had one. But he had never been to another planet
before. He had assumed that since his planet had a Lifestream, all planets did.
But by the way Alex asked the question, it didn’t seem like Earth had one, or
ever did, for that matter. <Maybe
Sephiroth just assumed Earth had a Lifestream without really knowing if it did
or not… or maybe he knows something we don’t.>
A glance to his side showed that
the man in camouflage was once again talking madly into the walkie-talkie.
Absently, Reno wondered who was on the other end of the connection. A look back
at Sephiroth and he discovered that the man was about to speak, his mouth
curved up in a wicked smirk. But much to the redhead’s surprise, the smile
faded, replaced by a grim frown. The man’s aquamarine mako eyes gained a faded,
far off look, like he wasn’t really seeing or listening to the people in front
of him.
And out of nowhere all hell broke
loose. Hundreds of men dressed exactly like the one with the walkie-talkie
swarmed into the plaza, rifles pointed with deadly accuracy at the man
levitating above the crowd.
“Freeze!” one of them yelled, as
if that would actually stop the lethal man. As it turned out, the men didn’t
even have a chance to even attempt to stop him, for Sephiroth threw his head
back and laughed. He disappeared into thin air, causing frightened gasps and
shocked murmurs to flow though the crowd of people.
Reno now recognized the men for
who they truly were. <Damn it, I
should have seen it sooner!> He was so used to seeing royal blue uniforms
and helmets and goggled faces that he didn’t recognize the skills of an army
when he saw one. <…been with ShinRa so
long now that I don’t even know what
anything else is anymore!>
But the threat was temporarily
over now, and Reno let loose the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He
slumped down to lean against the wall to the roof. He sighed in relief and
closed his eyes.
“Don’t move! Drop your weapon!”
The voice was so distinguished amidst the whimpering throng of people that it
made Reno jump. He looked up over the edge of the precipice to see a group of
soldiers surround Rufus, the later having his hands behind his blonde head in
tenacious admittance. Alex had backed away far enough so that he was all but
forgotten in the multitude of soldiers. <Way
to go, Shinra! Damned good way to get yourself knee-deep in shit!>
Despite his cynical attitude
towards the situation, his mind raced for possible solutions for the problem. He
watched, his face a mix of horror and bewilderment. Below, on the ground, Alex
watched with the same expression written on his features.
Alex looked up and saw him looking
down from atop the building. The man’s nervous eyes darted back and forth
between Reno and the soldiers leading a hapless Rufus away from his two companions.
Alex faltered, pausing in mid-step towards the blonde. He threw an uncertain
glance at the redhead and Reno vigorously shook his head. He wasn’t about to
let Alex go after the ex-president. That would be suicide.
Reno began to descent from the roof.
He wouldn’t let Alex after them only because it would be shear stupidity. Reno,
however, would find a way to liberate Rufus. <If I can’t,> he thought, <then
I don’t deserve to be called a Turk.>
Alex looked absently at the
troops, some leaving with Rufus in their custody, others staying to estimate
the damage done to the town. When he looked up to see Reno walking his way, he
threw his arms in the air in a gesture of defeat. “What do we do now?”
“What the hell was Shinra thinking?!”
the Turk interrupted sharply.
Alex shrugged. “I don’t know. Ever
since I saw him in the Squaresoft building he seemed a little edgy, especially
when someone mentioned something to do with his company. When we were in
Nibelheim he saw how much everything changed, how no one uses mako power
anymore, and he would hardly talk to anyone for the longest time afterwards.
And then again, when we saw the army coming in to town, he seemed bothered by
it. I guess seeing Sephiroth set him off.” Alex shook his head bemusedly. “I
don’t think Eiko’s Curaga spell really cured him at all. Shinra’s STILL crazy.”
Reno didn’t know anything about a
Cure spell being used on Rufus. No one had told him about it, but it didn’t
matter now. He’d think about it later. “Do you want Rufus Shinra rescued or
not?” he asked dejectedly.
“Well, yeah, but… we don’t have
the time. And he’s with the MILITARY!
They’re probably going to take him to Area 51 or something!” the dark-haired
man exaggerated. “How could YOU
possibly save Rufus?”
“I’m a Turk, remember?” the
redhead answered matter-of-factly, “This used to be my job. And besides, it’ll
be fun!” At the mention of the word ‘fun,’ Alex winced visibly.
“Look, Sephiroth is one thing but…
the United States Government?”
“Come on, Alex! You’re
procrastinating!” Reno retaliated, and walked off in the direction Rufus had
headed, “I need you. I don’t know this place, this PLANET. It’s unfamiliar. I can infiltrate ANY military base, but I don’t think I can do it without your
help.” Alex looked at him dubiously and Reno sighed, annoyed at the other’s
sudden mood change. “Look, you brought me into this mess. Don’t chicken out
now.”
Alex hesitated a moment before
nodding. “All right,” he said hoarsely, “We’ll take my car and follow them, but
after that, it’s up to you.”
Reno grinned, “I knew you’d help!
Now if only we could stop by one of your friends’ house to pick up a case of
beer…” Alex glared at him sharply causing Reno to laugh heartily, “I’m just
kidding. Seriously, lighten up, kid… now, uh, where did you say you parked your
car?”
End Ch. 10 at 07.17.01.
Emerald’s
stupid end-of-chapter ramble: Hmmm… How’d u like that chapter? I kind of figured the U.S.
Government would get involved if just about the whole continent knew about the
‘Blackwood Incident.’ For all those wondering, I try to have less than a
month’s hiatus between chapters ‘cuz I feel lazy if it’s anymore than that.