Plot Summary - In the dark and twisted realm of the Shinra elite, Reno fits right in amongst the lies and murder. Some say a Turk must sell his soul to do the things they do on a daily basis, but Reno never had one to speak of. He figures: the only difference between a good Turk and a dead Turk is knowing how to pick a side.
Warnings - Unbetaed, Yaoi, Angst, Sadomasochism, Partially AU, Torture, extreme Violence, Language, Dark Themes, relation to a Time/Dimension Play story, Sporadic Updates.
This story is connected to my C/Z Time-travel story called As Honor Burns. The latter half of the chapter is Reno's POV of a scene that happened in chapter 12 of A.H.B.. When I say Sporadic Updates, I mean that this story will most likely be updated in response to occurrences in the main storyline. If you don't mind Cloud/Zack and want more of this variety of story, please check out As Honor Burns. Admittedly, it's not quite as dark being from Cloud's POV for the most part when compared to Reno's POV.
A last mention: Reno is FFVII original canon style. This is not the comic relief from AC. This is the man who dropped the Sector 7 plate killing thousands.
You could call Reno many things: lazy, sadistic, insane, careless, sex-addled, and the list went on. However, you could not call him disloyal.
Loyalty was the only real virtue Reno held in any regard. The world would burn before Reno went back on his blood bound oath to his job. That didn't mean that Reno didn't skirt rules when it benefitted him though.
His job description was to serve the President and his son in whatever way they wanted him to and to obey the person in charge of the Turks. To most others, these rules were set in stone. They did not leave much to interpretation and loopholes were scarce if one was honest. But Reno was an A-class liar, even to himself. He carved out his own rules within the system and eventually became so important to the company that they couldn't do a damn thing about it.
It all began with a direct order from Rufus Shinra, the President's ambitious son. Reno had been only fourteen at the time, Rufus was a year younger, when the most powerful boy on Gaia told him in no uncertain terms, "You belong to me. Not my father. Not Veld. Your orders from here till the day you die are to follow my orders above all."
Rufus had been a cold thirteen year old. His face was like an ice sculpture on his better days. Pale gold hair framing a milky skinned face and deep blue eyes. Rufus' eyes could have given the sea a run for its money in terms of vibrancy.
Reno was a bold kid at the time. He'd been with the Turks for little over six months. His brutality on the field had netted him several unfriendly nicknames among his peers but earned him their respect if only out of fear.
From the slums to the top block of Shinra, Reno was feeling like he ruled the world. Tseng watched him out of the corner of his eye, like Reno was just going to put a bullet in the back of his head one day. Veld gave him every mission that involved violence to an extreme, which was his favorite variety. In his eyes, he got to carry out the dog eat dog lifestyle he'd grown up with and get paid for it. Life was good.
Rufus Shinra had been the one to knock him right off that pedestal. The fact that some brat could order him around like a trained pet got under his skin. Reno's temper snapped and he did the most inane thing he'd ever done: he attacked a Shinra.
By all rights, Rufus could have had him killed. It wouldn't have taken anymore than a quick scream; Tseng was only in the other room. But instead, he smirked at Reno from his place against the wall and behind Reno's six-inch blade.
"Even this moment, I hold your life in my hands. If you stand by me, you'll make it much further in this world beyond being Veld's attack dog. As is, you won't last. Once they get wind of just how unstable you really are, they'll... phase you out."
"An' ya know that for sure?" Reno had snarled at the kid. He'd never met someone who could smile while under threat of his knife. It was unnerving.
"Oh yes. People just go... missing in Shinra employ. It's a fact of life."
"So how is being your lap dog gonna be any better than bein' an attack dog for someone else?"
"Actually, I wanted you to be my attack dog. Don't worry, you'll enjoy it just as much, if not more, than what you're currently doing. Besides... In some ways, it's in your contract to obey."
"Don't think that's what your old man meant when he had it written up," Reno purred skeptically. Now that the shock of Rufus' clear fearlessness was wearing off, he found himself becoming more interested.
Rufus looked like an entirely different variety of interested as he leaned closer, letting the knife rest against his throat, to whisper, "I don't care."
Reno dropped the knife in seconds and used his position over Rufus to press him back against the wall with a furious kiss. To his delight, Rufus responded more than willingly. When they broke apart, Reno kept his forehead pressed to the smaller boy's and stared down at him with hooded eyes. Rufus smiled again, razor sharp through his reddened lips.
"Tell me more," Reno rasped before kissing him again.
Working for Rufus was Reno's own twisted version of honor. He followed orders that came from Veld or the President, but put them through Rufus before carrying out every one. Rufus approved bits and pieces as it suited his own agenda. Reno never bothered asking any questions; truth was he just didn't give a damn what the motives were.
It became obvious that Rufus Shinra was a new breed of fucked in the head that even Reno had never seen before. His eyes would gain a feral gleam when Reno walked through the doors to his office covered in gore. He could have just blown someone's brains out, but Rufus never cared. Something about the inherent violence of Reno's job turned him on.
The kid wasn't just a sadist either, but a masochist extraordinaire too. Reno lost count on how many times he had to tighten the restraints on Rufus when they were fucking because he complained they were too loose. Apparently nothing but having his circulation completely cut off was good enough. Sometimes Reno worried about someone else catching sight of the bruises, but Rufus always brushed off the concern.
"They'll blend right in with what my father leaves behind," he said smoothly one night.
It was true. The President beat his son so badly that Reno often found Rufus black and blue beneath his crisp white clothing. In his more poetic moments, he mused about how such pristine clothes hid such darkness in Rufus' life. There was nothing that could be done though, and it seemed like Rufus had long stopped caring about the routine beatings. If anything, Reno figured he may even enjoy them.
Beyond all the red flags the inner workings of Shinra put up, Reno was entirely happy with his line of work. He never experienced the 'off-days' his colleagues were so fond of referring to when turning down a mission. It made little sense to him that someone could kill one day and then be too 'off' to do so the next day. For Reno, all days were a good day to commit murder so long as the mountain of Gil kept pouring into his bank account at the end of every two weeks.
Reno was fifteen when the President sent him down to the labs to pick up an 'important object' from Professor Hojo. He'd grumbled to himself about what the fat imbecile had called a 'mission'. Turks weren't couriers.
It turned out that it was much more than what it appeared. That 'important object' had been his son.
Rufus had been strapped to a table when Reno walked into the room and he'd felt the world stop spinning for a heartbeat's length before it tilted on its axis as nausea overwhelmed him. His senses were assaulted with the smell of mako and blood. Fighting back the urge to be sick, Reno stumbled to the table and tried to wake Rufus. If he'd been a religious man, he might have thanked a deity for the fact that the boy was still breathing.
"Ah good, you're here," a voice said from behind him, causing him to almost jump a foot in the air as he drew his gun. Whirling around, he pointed it straight at the Professor's head. The man just frowned slightly and looked down his nose at him. "Put that nonsense away, boy. You're here to collect the specimen, correct?"
"Specimen?" Reno growled without lowering his weapon.
Hojo just sighed and waved a hand at Rufus. "Yes, yes. The boy."
"Ya mean the President's son? What the fuck do ya think he's gonna do to your crazy ass for this?"
"Nothing at all, you dull-witted fool. He's the one who authorized the experimentation."
Reno balked at the idea that the man could offer his only son up to this freak. Sure, he'd never even met his own parents, but at least those fuckers had given him up from the get-go. Why would someone keep a child and then allow this to happen?
Still, Reno had no choice but to get Rufus out of there quickly. It was difficult carrying the other boy, but he simply didn't let his strength run out until Rufus was safely home. Reno would never admit to his hands shaking in anything other than exhaustion as he brushed Rufus' hair out of his closed eyes.
Moments later, Rufus' mother had come in to find him there. She screamed and began crying loudly as she huddled over her son. Reno backed away from the bed awkwardly. He'd only ever seen the woman at official engagements where she attended with the President. She'd always seemed so beautiful then, but up close Reno could see the bruises peeking out from under her clothing.
"He did this didn't he? DIDN'T HE?" She screamed at Reno. He opened his mouth a few times, uselessly, before nodding.
She looked back to Rufus and let out another sob. "I'll kill him. I'll kill that ba—BASTARD!"
The next day, Reno was pulling a blank-faced Rufus out of the tub in his bathroom. His white coat was soaked in blood. His mother's brains were spilled all over the tile.
The kid didn't even cry.
Two days later, Reno was picking Rufus up from the labs again.
And it continued like this for months before one day, Reno just woke up in the labs himself. Rufus was beside him, awake for once, and was staring at the ceiling. Reno groaned loudly as he tried to sort out his aching head.
"You're going to be in pain for awhile. It'll pass," Rufus said quietly without looking at him. "It always passes." Reno would have worried about the contemplative tone in the face of the current circumstances, but Hojo returned then and Reno couldn't do a damn thing but try not to scream for the next five hours.
They got released together. Rufus had made it clear that questioning the experimentation would only gain them more time in the labs, so Reno just tried to accept things. Rufus was many things, but he was never wrong.
It was months later when Hojo had a small R inked on both of their hands. After that, they both just started wearing gloves. Reno made the case that it was better for his job when asked, and Rufus just glared at people until they left.
Those months of TLC from the mad man had caused changes in them. Reno was faster, stronger, and his thoughts processed at lightning speed. Not a single Turk could keep up with him on the field anymore. People noted that his eyes had changed as well. Not just the additional mako that made them glow brightly, but those who really looked could see his lurking intelligence. Rufus had once compared his eyes to cloaked daggers.
And Rufus had just gone from a frigid looking kid to a teenager with a deadly glare. His deep blue eyes had become like shards of ice from the mako glow. When Rufus fixed you with one of his stares, you could feel it deep within your soul. It set the fight or flight instincts off in almost everyone the boy dealt with. His father always responded with fight as he beat Rufus again, but everyone else turned to flight.
Rufus only got worse when a man by the name of Lazard Deusericus joined Shinra. He started as an aide to Heidegger and was SOLDIER Director in under a year. Rufus always held the man in utter contempt. Reno never understood why until the day he saw Rufus, the President, and Lazard all standing near one another. Suddenly it hit him like a ton of bricks that Lazard looked exactly like the President and his son.
When he asked Rufus about this later, all he got was a snarled, "He's a whore's son. That's all he'll ever be."
Reno didn't bother mentioning that he was a whore's son too, but that was because he knew that it wasn't what Rufus was really saying.
When Rufus turns sixteen, he immediately moves out of his father's penthouse.
Their relationship blooms despite the chaos of their everyday life. They spend almost every night, in Rufus' new private apartment, fantasizing about the day that Rufus will rule the world. It's as close as either will ever come to acting their age. Because dawn always brings reality back. Reno is still a hired murderer and Rufus is still second fiddle to his father.
Hojo still calls them in for experimentation regularly and Reno is getting closer to simply helping the man trip down a flight of stairs.
The scientist is adamant that Rufus take some certain type of pills lately. Two a day and that means Reno is left picking another bottle up often. Hence, why he walked into the labs willingly today.
Hojo was bent over some kid, who was strapped to one of the chairs Hojo used to restrain his 'patients'. Reno moved as silently as death these days, so it was easy to sneak up on the man. He'd sworn to do so at every opportunity ever since the man had gotten the jump on him years ago with Rufus.
" Uh... Who's the kid, doc?" he asked in a bored tone.
It was satisfying to see Hojo spin around in shock. Reno could hear his heartbeat speed up by several notches.
"What are you doing here?" Ooh and didn't he sound positively pissed.
"I'm here to pick up Shrina, the younger's, prescription. Ya know, the one you say is so damn important he take?" Reno said while picking up a beaker and turning it around in his hand. He'd have dropped it too, if the poor kid on in the chair hadn't looked like a loud noise just might kill him.
"Of course... One moment," Hojo said as he ran off to find whatever those pills were made of. Reno watched him leave for half a moment before approaching the boy.
The stench of mako was so thick that Reno whistled low in sympathy. The poor bastard's eyes were blown so wide Reno doubted he could see a damn thing.
"Looks like the good doctor has done one hell of a number on you, kid."
"Guh," was the only response. What a talkative son of a bitch.
Reno looked him over and was struck with something akin to déjà vu. He did a double take as he realized the kid was the fucking spitting image of Rufus. Take away that ridiculously spiked hair and they could almost be twins. Hell, they even looked the same age.
"Ya look a lot like someone I know. A fucking lot. Who the hell are you?" he asked as he loosened the straps holding the kid down. Suddenly he felt more invested than he should be. The kid didn't say anything but groaned loudly. Must be in a lot of pain. Reno checked his info on the clipboard Hojo left behind.
"Cloud... Strife, huh?" And what the hell kind of name was that?
Suspicious, Reno walked away and grabbed an empty syringe. When he came back to the kid, he inserted it into his arm and drew some blood. The kid jerked in response and Reno had to grab his arm to keep it steady.
"Hold fuckin' still, kid. Just gathering evidence."
Not entirely true, but Reno was already known to be good at bending rules. At that moment, the damned doctor returned with the bottle of pills.
"What are you doing?" he screeched as Reno capped the syringe and tucked it into his pocket.
With a cocky smirk, he said, "Superseding ya. Whatever you thought you could do today, without Presidential permission, won't be happenin', catch my drift?"
"He's a fresh SOLDIER candidate. I'm giving him his initial mako injections!"
"Then why ain't he out there, with his buddies?" he asked with feigned interest.
"He's got sensitivities." Reno rolled his eyes without bothering to disguise it. Sensitivities? Yeah that's exactly what this was, and he was the next emperor of Wutai.
"Looks like ya pumped him full of a hell of a lotta mako for a kid with sensitivities. Come on, kid," he said and pulled the kid up. The blond just slumped against him boneless. Fantastic.
"I'll go to the President!" Hojo said angrily.
"Go for it, slick. I've done my good deed for the day," Reno crooned mockingly as he moved forward to grab the bottle of pills. The kid in his arms desperately fought against him as he tried to approach Hojo.
Reno just sighed and hissed, "Calm the fuck down. Just need ta get somethin'."
As far away as possible, Reno reached out and snatched the bottle from the scientist. Hojo growled at him but otherwise couldn't do a damned thing. Reno gave a grin and a two fingered salute as he dragged the lifeless kid out of the room. In the hallway, the limp fucker got even limper as whatever tension was left in him drained out. Reno frowned as the kid's face turned a sickly green.
"If yer about to die, ya better not fuckin' vomit on me, kid." The boy said nothing, and Reno had to assume he'd passed out.
Without wanting to drag him up to Rufus' place in the middle of the day, Reno was forced to bring him to his own underused apartment. Looking a lot like a date rapist, he hauled the boy into his apartment with him over his shoulder. Kicking the bedroom door open, Reno all but threw the deceptively heavy bastard on the bed. Was this kid all muscle?
Reno perched at the end of the bed and waited for him to wake up, which, naturally, took hours. When he finally did begin to stir, Reno moved closer to lean over him. The kid must have noticed how close he was because he flailed around violently. Reno scowled and drew back.
"Fuckin' hell, kid. Just tryin' ta see if you were alright."
The kid opened his eyes once then shut them instantly. Reno fought the urge to chuckle as he pulled a cigarette of his pack and stuck it in his mouth. He moved back to the foot of the bed and went back to waiting as the kid readjusted to being alive.
As soon as he could open his eyes, he looked at Reno with a confused expression before asking, "Wh—where am I?"
"My place. Didn' know where else ta take ya," he said easily around the cigarette.
"I thought you lived with— Never mind. Wrong guy."
Reno's eyebrow skyrocketed at that. How the fuck did this kid know he lived with Rufus? No one knew he lived with Rufus.
"Interestin' that you should say that. I don't live here. I just own it. So, seems like you know me, but I don't know you. That just ain't gonna do, kid."
The kid grimaced in what looked like an unconscious move. Must not have wanted to reveal his knowledge.
"I'm not a kid. You can't be mo—much older than me," he mumbled so quietly that Reno had to use his enhanced hearing to catch it.
"You really like ta change words mid-go. An' I'm seventeen, if you're not the same age then yer a kid ta me," he said while looking the kid over. "So... who the fuck are ya?" he asked finally.
"Cloud Strife. Ca—SOLDIER 3rd class."
"More than that."
"Sixteen. From Nibelheim."
Reno grinned a bit at the evasive little fucker. "I'm thinkin' yer a liar."
"Try proving it," the blond growled and Reno was surprised to see his pupils change size. No... Not size. Shape. They went from round to slitted like a cat. Oh man, Hojo really did do a number on this one.
"Nice eyes there, General, sir," he said with a smirk. Oddly, the kid seemed to realize something from what he said and his face broke out into a horrified expression as he grabbed at his hair. Reno frowned at the motion.
"None of that! You new mako'ed up kids don't know your own strength. You'll tear yer hair out. And it's such a pretty color too."
"Shut up, Reno!"
The words registered in his brain faster than he could process and he sprung forward and fisted a hand in the collar of the kid's uniform. He managed to put his 'Turk face' on in time to ask, "How the fuck do ya know my name?" Unfortunately, the kid had a 'Turk face' of his own and Reno found himself unable to read it.
The little bastard smirked and said, "Word of mouth."
Reno had to give him points for being bold. He also had to admit that not only did this kid look like Rufus, he fucking acted like him too. This was déjà vu all over again; all he needed was the knife.
"Ya don't know who the fuck yer messin' with, kid. I could turn your ass back over to Hojo in the blink of an eye. And then who the hell would save ya, then?"
"Just kill me instead."
Reno was stunned for a moment. This kid was the real fucking deal. Instantaneously, Reno was filled with affection for the other boy. He started laughing uncontrollably and this card of a kid laughed along with him. Hell, the kid almost looked like he liked Reno too. This kid would make one hell of a Turk.
"I don't know who the fuck ya are. But I'll figure it out eventually. In the mean time, I like you. Got a feelin', Rufus would like ya too. If you already know so damn much about me, you'd probably fit right in with my department," he said through his laughter.
"I already told Balto; I'm not interested in the Turks," the kid replied simply, but it was still good natured in tone.
Reno paused in his mirth for a moment to consider the boy again. He knew Katana by name. That was rare for anyone outside the Turks.
"Is he the one who told ya about me?"
"If you'd believe that, then sure," the kid said with another arrogant smirk.
Reno gave the kid a shark-like smile, teeth clenched gently around his cigarette, before casually saying, "Well, Cloud Strife, ya've got my attention for sure. You've got Hojo's too, so if I was you, I'd want to stay on my good side."
The kid just snorted and said, "You don't have a good side."
"I do so. And 'is name is Rufus Shinra."
"Well give Rufus my best, but I've got to get home."
"I'll walk ya there," Reno said, drawing out the end both seductively and dangerously.
He finally backed off the kid and helped him off the bed. As he passed Reno, he took the opportunity to palm the kid's ID card. No chance the kid would have noticed beyond that mako haze he was still in. The kid led him down to the lower ranking SOLDIER apartments. Reno found this a bit odd as, if the kid really was a fresh SOLDIER, then he shouldn't be living in one of these until tomorrow.
When the kid reached his door, he fumbled around for his ID before shooting Reno an accusing glare. The redhead gave him a roguish smile and shrugged. In the end, the kid had to knock. Barely a second later some black fucking blur came rushing out of the apartment and tackled the kid. Reno raised an eyebrow and pulled out a cigarette.
"Where the hell have you been, Cloud?! I've been losing my damn mind. I thought... Gaia! Cloud you don't want to know what I thought," kid number two said so wetly that Reno could only assume he was crying. What a pussy. Out of nowhere, Hewley stepped into the doorway. He looked from the two kids on the ground to Reno. Reno just shrugged and lit the cigarette.
Kid, second in command, looked at Reno jealously and Reno just sent a lewd grin his way. No reason to not have a little fun while he was there. Luckily for him, the little blood spitfire didn't see it.
"Who are you?" the black haired boy asked.
"The guy who saved yer friend here from the big bad doctor," Reno said sardonically.
"What did Hojo want with him?" Hewley asked pointblank.
"Beats me, man," Reno said between drags.
Hewley had the nerve to walk up to him, grab his arm, and growl, " Stay away from Cloud. I'll deal with Hojo."
"Nah, Sephiroth'll deal with him, right? Cause that always works out so well."
And it really didn't. Sephiroth plus mad scientist often resulted in millions of gil in damages to the labs. But Reno knew it was time for him to leave. Hewley would be a problem if he stuck around.
With a grin and a two fingered salute to the blond kid, Reno walked away saying, " See ya soon, blondie."
As he moved down the hallway he heard the other kid ask, " Why? Why will he see you soon?" in a decidedly jealous voice. Reno chuckled to himself as the elevator dinged and he headed up for Rufus' place.
His own personal blond was already home by the time Reno arrived. He looked up over his glass of white wine and gave Reno a quizzical look.
"You're home unusually early."
"So are you, babe."
"Mmm, yes, well I had very little to do. Everyone was busy attending to readjusting numbers to accommodate the new SOLDIERs that graduated today," Rufus said simply as he returned to reading over whatever boring report he had on his lap. Reno walked over, pulled the paper out of his hands, and straddled Rufus. His lover narrowed his eyes lustfully as Reno took the wine glass and polished it off with flourish.
"That was mine."
"Sharin' is caring, babe."
"Is that so? So tell me, have I been sharing you this evening?" he asked in a falsely calm voice before Reno realized his fatal mistake. Before he could respond, he was pushed violently against the wooden table behind him. Rufus drew his knife, and like Reno was so very fond of doing to him, slammed it directly through his palm and into the wood beneath. Reno hissed needily and thrust his hips against Rufus'.
"Nah, babe. All yours," he rasped as Rufus set to opening his shirt.
"Then why are you drenched in someone else's scent?" Rufus asked while punctuating every emphasis with a bite to his skin.
"Found an interestin' kid in Hojo's office today..."
"Do go on. I love having the mood ruined by thoughts of a psychopath."
"Need to, if ya wanna know why I smell like someone else."
"Fine," Rufus said as he sat back with a huff. Reno frowned regretfully and reached over to pull the blade from his flesh. It stung as he removed it, but the wound sealed over instantly. One of the little quirks Hojo's work resulted in.
"So I found this kid. Looks about yer age. Looks a fuck ton like ya too."
"My father has, I'm sure, multiple bastard children. What's the point?"
"Hojo's got a real interest in this one. Injected the poor sap with somethin' and a hell of a lot of mako. Kid's eyes turned slitted like Sephiroth's when I pissed him off. And the kid knows shit. Like that I live with you. Knew my name too. This kid is gonna be important. Just got a gut feelin' about it."
Rufus seemed to be contemplating something for a moment before asking, "And his personality?"
"I'd have sworn he was you if his hair didn't look so ridiculous."
"Interesting, indeed," Rufus said lowly while looking around at nothing in particular. "Did you happen—"
Reno cut him off with a smirk and held up the syringe of the kid's blood. Rufus smiled at him both fondly and with an edge of planning. Reno had a feeling he'd be seeing a lot more of that kid in the near future. He might turn out to be a valuable asset in Rufus' move to control Shinra. If nothing else, they'd know where he was if they needed to take him out for security reasons.
"You remind me often why I rely so heavily on you," Rufus purred as Reno pulled him in close. One last shared dark smile and they lost themselves in the other's mouth.