A/N: I do not own FFVII... it would probably suck if I owned it... I do however love that World and those characters too much and can't avoid writing about them.
This is clearly an AU since Vincent Valentine is Sephiroth's father (My brain says it's true, they have the same nose, same chin... far too alike) Vincent do not have his golden clawy thingy on his left hand, the left hand is however very scarred. And the kicker, Hojo, Jonas Sebastien Hojo is kind. Gast and Ifalna Faremis are alive, raising their daughter (who aims for a Medical degree). Another change is that Genesis Rhapsodos is a cranky female, at least cranky at certain times in the month. Tom Hollander is the SUPER insane professor...br /I should probably post the Previous stories as well... I will post more if there is interest of this.
The first time Reno came in contact with the Turks he had been 9, slum-rat with no parents as he was he had just been at the wrong place at the wrong time. Walking onto a scene where a man in a dark suit killed two men with a slight blade, a Stiletto was a bad idea, so of course, Reno had ran. He hadn't gotten more than a few steps before the man had grabbed him, slammed him into a wall and started to question him. Did he know the men, of course not, he hadn't seen them before and now he was going to die as well. That was what Reno had fully believed and expected. The man had let him go with the advice to forget what he had seen and if he talked the man would come back and silence him. Safe to say, Reno never mentioned it.
The second time he met a Turk he had actually saved the man's life, the broad-shouldered dark-skinned man had been shanked, badly by one of the 'press-gangs'. The gang had left him for dead and Reno had slipped onto the scene, mostly to check for anything that he could scavenge. But he had realized that the baldy was alive when he had touched him and he searched the mans suit for a PHS. Fortunately it hadn't been locked and he had called the first number on the list. The answering voice had told him to stay at the site until they arrived, he had stayed, mostly to keep pressure on the wounds in baldy's chest, it hadn't taken more than 5 minutes until the other Turks arrived. A Wutaian took his place, Reno slunk back against the wall as the Turks worked on their colleague. One of them turned to him, vibrant Red Eyes locked on his aqua and he was terrified that he would be killed on the spot. Again he was questioned but he had no answers, the Wutaian called out for Red Eyes and Reno took the opportunity to escape. He ran away, through the sewers and hunkered down, hoping that he wasn't followed by the Turks.
The third time he was 13, newly snatched and sold on an auction, high on drugs forced into him and chained in a room with another boy about the same age. The blond was drugged as well but Reno's life on the streets had given him some taste of the drugs so he was more aware of what was happening. Their new owner Hannes Droa was a pedophile, Reno knew that, he had seen what happened to his victims and he was again terrified for his life. The man was strong as he grabbed Reno's hair and pulled him to the nearby bed.
It had hurt, Reno had screamed, he had cried.
Hannes Droa made some mistakes though, he never put Reno back in the restrains after raping him, leaving the gun in it's holster on the floor was another. It was his last mistake. Reno was determined that the other boy, he looked so innocent, shouldn't have to go through what he did the hours earlier and with shaking hands he pulled the trigger again and again until the clip clicked empty. He wiped his tears and dragged the blond boy with him out of the door, the empty gun still clutched in his other hand, escape the only thing in his frantic mind. There were men that tried to stop them, Reno remembered slamming the gun into one of them, slammed it into his groin, taking a blade from that one, cutting the next that tried to stop them. He never remembered getting injured, but it hurt to breath and he bled from wounds but they were out on the streets again. Reno kept them running, even though he hurt and bled, he kept them running. The Turks found them, the drugged blond reacted by throwing himself into the Wutaian's arms, whilst Reno sagged to the ground, the adrenaline that had flooded him utterly spent and gone. A hand stopped his head from smacking into the asphalt, Red Eyes, but now the eyes were calming and kind. The sounds and vision disappeared into blank blissful darkness.
When he woke he knew he was hurt badly, pain riddled his body but he also felt completely safe, for the first time in his life, he felt safe. Someone moved next to him and as he opened his eyes he saw Red Eyes sitting there by the bed, hand-typing a report, and as Reno shifted on the bed he groaned. Red Eyes focused on him and immediately stretched, pressed a button and then took a glass of water from the side-table, putting the paper-straw between Reno's lips letting the red-head take a sip. The tepid water was a relief to his dry mouth and he took another sip before Red Eyes moved the glass away.
"Better?" Reno nodded in response but his eyes darted around the room, window and real sunlight, they were above the Plate, he had never been above the Plate. Only one door, and Stiletto was standing at attention at the door, but escape was rather low on Reno's list at the moment, his eyes returned to the window and he smiled. "Your name is Reno Sinclair, age 13, born in district 7, orphaned at 8. Am I correct so far?" Red Eyes asked, his words made Reno look back at him, it was all true so he nodded. "My name is Vincent, director of the Turks and we owe you a debt. You saved the life of Rufus Shinra, the son of the President, at a great cost to yourself." Reno felt cold all of a sudden, the memories of what happened in that room came back, the pain, and he started to sob, hiding his face behind his hands. It was horrible and he hated it, hated to been used like that and it hurt even now just remembering it made the pain that stabbed through his lower back and insides when Hannes Droa had raped his body and soul. And he cried. The bed dipped as Red Eyes, Vincent, sat down next to him placing another blanket around Reno's thin shoulders and pulled him to his chest, Reno sobbed on, face buried in Vincent's shirt, Stiletto closed the door.
Reno was moved into Vincent and Sephiroth's apartment when he was discharged from the hospital, Reno was worried how the SOLDIER-cadet would react to a younger boy moving into his home. When Vincent let him in through the door he looked around, the apartment was a home, a real home, photographs and small knick-knacks on the shelves, keys on the counter next to the shoe-rack, slippers on row for visitors and a few coats thrown casually over a chair. Vincent picked up the coats and put them away in a locker, almost as if he did it daily.
"Seph?" Vincent said, voice low and the silver-haired teen looked out from the next room, the silver hair up in a high looped ponytail, a grin and a cucumber in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other.
"Just making sushi for evening meal!" there was this unmistakably happy tone in the older teens voice as he ducked back into the kitchen.
"The brats coming over as well?" Vincent asked as he guided the nervous Reno into the kitchen, the small bag of the red-heads belongings in his hand.
"erh... no, they are staying clear of me for tonight at least, I might have chucked my books at them at lunch and then I definitely kicked both of their asses during hand-to-hand. So they are avoiding me to avoid getting me more pissed at them," Sephiroth answered grinning a bit abashed as he expertly sliced the cucumber into strings, the rest of the vegetables and fish were already sliced and waiting on a plate, the rice cooked and cooling.
"Annoyed you how?" Vincent said, his voice still low as he directed Reno to sit down at the table, before washing his hands and he started to help his son.
"Well, Gen started to tease me about studying for the tests and Ange just hooked onto that and kept rattling me up. I like to read, I mean, Gen has that bloody play in her hands all the time, I just happen to like science and tactics... I blame you and uncle Jonas for that by the way, and I just don't..." the two kept talking about their respective day, Vincent able to speak about most of his since he had spent some of it getting Reno from the hospital.
Sephiroth hadn't even looked more than once at Reno, and the teen felt both relief and annoyance at that, it was like he was invisible in a way. Which he wasn't. There was a book on the table and Reno looked at it and carefully opened it. He wasn't an an-alphabet, but his hold on letters and words were a bit shaky. He had only been in school for two years when his mother had followed his father into an early grave and learning to read properly was listed far below than keeping alive. It was a story book though, some images too even, so Reno started reading it. He was engrossed in the story before long and missed the small smile from the silver-haired youth, he had picked the book up from the nearby book-shop as a small attempt of friendship to the new member of the household.
The dinner was calm, Vincent showed Reno how to hold the chopsticks just once and the red-head was a near expert on the things at the end of dinner.
"Seph, show Reno the room would you, I am going to get the dishes done and call the office," even softly spoken it was a clear order and the older teen nodded and got up, placing his dishes together on the counter, Reno mirrored Sephiroth's action and followed him through the spacious apartment.
"This is dad's bedroom, and the one opposite is mine and this," Sephiroth opened the third door and lit the lamp, "is your room. For now you have my old bed, clothes and sheets but we are going to shop this weekend." Reno looked around the room, it was big, the walls a soft gray color and wooden floorboards, there was a near empty bookshelf next to a small desk. The bed was to left of the door, a thick knitted dark-gray blanket with the SOLDIER insignia in blue thrown casually over it. Reno looked down at the bag in his hands, it was all he had, and he fought back a sob. Hands pulled him close and Sephiroth hugged him close, the taller teen was warm and he guided them both to the bed and sat down. "It's OK Reno, it will get better."
There were rules in the Valentine Household, be home before 20:00 if not make sure to call in with a good reason. Keep the room tidy and help cleaning the rest of the apartment. Eat dinner with the rest of the family on Fridays and Saturdays when they were home from work, Vincent had work sometimes so he didn't count. Don't lie at home and don't get drunk until at least 15.
School was both heaven and hell, Reno was intelligent, learned easily and had a nearly eidetic memory. His teachers enjoyed his thirst for knowledge, his fellow students was another story. The hazing started his first day, he ignored them, they kept up with their games, the third day Reno had been in the school they had gone to local bath-house for swimming lessons. Four of the boys in the same grade had thought it a fun game to grab the 'charity-case' and hold him down against the tiles in the changing room. Reno panicked.
Vincent was out of town and the call had been rerouted to Sephiroth's phone, the silver-haired teen had been there within twenty minutes, a broad-sword on his back and flanked by one silent but furious Angeal and one spitting, threatening and cursing Genesis. Reno hadn't calmed down until Jonas had given him a sedative. Vincent had been sitting next to the bed when Reno woke.
The following day the Director of the Turks accompanied him to school and Tseng stayed by his side the entire day. Safe to say no one dared to haze the red-head that day.
"Vincent? Why did Tseng stay with me today?" the question was asked as Reno wiped the plates after dinner, Vincent was washing the last dish.
"Hmm, I keep forgetting that you don't know. When someone is recruited into the Turks they cast away their family names, the Turks is family, not many of us chose to have children of our own, but when we do, that child is family as well," Vincent said after a moment of thinking. "I think that Seph scarred some of them into never having babies though, he was an expert on escape and evade when he was younger," Vincent grins at Reno. Reno looks at him, really just hearing a few details; Family, Children of their own.
"You mean I can keep living here? I won't go to the orphanage?" his voice was small and he looked down at his hands, still wiping a plate. Vincent's scarred left hand picked the plate out of his hands and then the tall man bent down a little so that their eyes met properly, hands on the redheads shoulders.
"This is your home, I and Seph will be your family for you, I will never send you to the orphanage, I promise you that," Vincent swore to him, voice steady and then he was hugged tightly to the Turk's chest, and strangely enough Reno felt for the first time in 5 years completely safe.
Vincent had arranged with therapy, which was both horrible and good, it made Reno sleep with far less nightmares about the rape. Vincent also arranged with training, that was mostly fun, yes he had bruises upon bruises sometimes, and discovered muscles that really ought to be illegal to the human body. His closest friend soon became Rufus Shinra, who attended the same year and the same classes as him, Rude was his guard, but the dark-skinned man extended his watch over the lithe redhead.
Yes, there were setbacks, it was hard to forget 5 years surviving on the streets, picking pockets and then the drugs and rape. It was impossible but he survived the memories, creating new happier memories with his new family. It was hard not to be happy around them, he had gained a father, one brother, two insane cousins (Genesis and Angeal) and and one cute-as-hell cousin in Aerith Faremis, the family also contained both professors Faremis and the uncle Jonas Hojo.