Final Fantasy VII
Aftermath
"So I told them that we might be retreating, but we're still victorious," Reno said while waving his hands. His voice was laced with laughter and his eyes glittered with mischief. "And Rude just looked down at his watch and straightened his tie and ran! You should have seen their faces!" Across from him, Rufus attempted to focus on his paperwork and ignore the redhead, but Reno could still detect a slight smile the newly appointed president wasn't quite so able to hide. Encouraged by this, Reno continued his tale as enthusiastically as if he'd been reliving it.
Rufus raised a delicate hand to rub his face briefly, as if deeply annoyed, yet Reno recognized it for what it was; an attempt to hide his amusement. Being able to read the small gestures and expressions was a slight pride to all turks.
Reno gave the new ShinRa president a wide and wicked grin.
"I have work to do," Rufus said at long last, confident that he had collected himself enough to speak. "Is there no one else you can bother?" Blue eyes glanced up, almost hopefully, waiting for an answer. And as good as Reno was in reading the other man, he wasn't sure if Rufus hoped for him to leave or stay. So the turk decided to do what a turk was meant to do and shook his head.
"Naah, someone has to look after you, sir," he replied and raised his feet up on Rufus' desk, only to lower them immediately after at the president's sharp look and raised eyebrow. "With only four turks left and all the crap with Sephiroth and the meteor, well, you get the picture."
Rufus regarded Reno long enough to make the redhead squirm. In truth, that didn't take much effort or time. It was simply that the cold blue eyes could penetrate through even Sephiroth on the best of days.
"I appreciate your concern for my safety," the blond commented, and Reno could just feel the 'but' hanging in the air. He chuckled nervously and shifted in his seat.
"I'll be quiet," the redhead promised. "Quiet as a turk. You won't even notice I'm here." Rufus merely huffed in disbelief and shook his head, but returned his attention to the paperwork.
Reno tried to distract himself. He stared out through the office windows at the entirety of Midgar that stretched below them. He looked up at the clouded sky, counted the birds on the opposite building's roof, and recalled a hundred reasons to why he liked being a turk. Then he turned his head to look at Rufus; the coldest, the most terrifying and the most handsome president ShinRa Electric Power Company had ever had. And Reno wasn't too blind or stuck up not to be able to admit another man to be handsome.
And so he began counting off reasons why he liked Shinra junior better than Shinra senior.
That lasted until junior sighed and carefully laid down his pen on the table. And once more Reno found himself under the piercing stare.
"Is there something you wanted," Rufus asked in a carefully controlled voice that, to Reno, betrayed a warning and the beginnings of the end of his patience.
"No, nothing," Reno hurried to say. And then just as quickly added: "Just thinking."
"Thinking," Rufus repeated slowly. "And staring..."
"Was I," Reno wondered innocently.
"Yes. For the past four minutes"
The turk laughed slightly, apologized and hung his head in embarrassment. Suffering the calculating stare for a few moments longer, Reno nearly let out a sigh of relief when Rufus took mercy on him and picked up the pen once more. Still feeling slight shame of being caught staring, no matter the reasons, the redhead turned back towards the windows.
The silence did not last, and overcome by boredom, Reno began humming to himself. From the corner of his eye he saw Rufus bury his face in his hands.
"Did I tell you about when we met Strife and his gang in a cave and Elena blurted out a part of our plans?"
He met Rufus eyes with a nervous smile as the two delicate hands lowered enough for the blond to glare.
"No, you did not," the president said, and judging by his tone, he did not care much to hear the story either. Reno decided to share it anyway.
Whatever the reason, Rufus did not kick him out of the office, or order him to shut up. It was, Reno figured, as if the entire dealing with Sephiroth had changed something on the Shinra heir. As if he'd become more accepting of the company of others.
Reno was nearly at the end of his tale when Rude opened the door. Rufus acknowledge the man coolly, while Reno greeted him with a big grin.
"What's up? I was just telling Rufus about our missions." He turned towards the president with a wink and then back to Rude. That was, however, when his smile died. Rude had moved to the middle of the room, Elena stood leaning against the doorframe, and Strife out of all people walked in, looking around himself as if he'd never been there before.
Reno was out of his seat within a heartbeat.
"What the hell, Rude?" he exclaimed and pointed at the intruder. Rude raised his hands to calm his partner and even Strife lifted his hands in a sign of surrender.
"I'm here to talk. To apologize," the ex-soldier explained. His gaze locked with Reno's for a moment before flickering to the floor.
"Apologize? Fucking hell…" the redhead spat, and then turned to look over his shoulder. "Rufus..?" It was the president's decision of what to do, after all.
"Throw him out," Rufus said with a coldness that could have frozen mako. "We have nothing to discuss." And with a feral grin, Reno stepped in between the president and the former soldier.
"You heard the boss, Strife," he stated with a calmness reserved only for intimidation. "Get lost." The blond intruder looked up, regarding Reno for a while before his gaze moved past the redhead to where Rufus sat.
Looking at Reno again, Strife gave a shaking smile and nodded.
"Alright, I'm sorry to disturb." And with those words he left, moving slowly past Elena who, Reno suddenly noted was biting back tears.
"Elena, you okay," he wondered with a slight twinge of worry. The woman started and looked up, wiping her hand over her cheeks.
"I'm fine," she assured everyone. "It's just… a really stressful time, you know." Rufus actually snorted, and Reno grinned at the distressed girl.
"Get used to it, rookie," he teased, though it was not without affection. "You're a turk now. Gotta have a mind to handle stress, or you'll just break."
Strife paused, as if wanting to say something, but then continued down the hallway again. Elena nodded her head quickly and smiled at Reno.
"I'll remember that, thanks," she replied. Reno watched her hurry after Strife and engage him in a conversation. It was too far for him to overhear more than a few words; apologies from Elena, and admittance of guilt from Strife.
"You should get some sleep, Reno," Rude suddenly said, bringing the redhead's attention back.
"Aw, man… I promised Tseng I'd keep an eye on Rufus," he complained. A slight cough came from the president's direction, reminding them that he was still in the room.
"You need to rest," the older turk insisted. Reno sighed, pursed his lips and shoved his hands in his pockets before an idea dawned to him.
"I can sleep on the sofa here, right," he asked, eyes darting back and forth between Rude and Rufus. "Then I'll be here if something happens, and still be getting rest and I'll even be on time for tomorrows work!" Rude hesitated shortly before looking towards Rufus as well.
"If the president agrees…" Rude said, seeming unsure, and turned back towards Reno. The blond waved his hand as if he couldn't have cared less.
"Great, so it's settled!" Reno happily exclaimed and bounced over to the sofa.
Rude watched his former partner settle down on the medical bed and point a finger towards the stone wall behind the desk he'd been allowed.
"And make sure he doesn't do an all-nighter again," he told Rude with clouded eyes and a slight smirk. "Tell Tseng to come up sometime past midnight to check, okay, buddy?"
"I'll tell him," Rude nodded and waited to see if "Rufus" would have anything to say to that. After a moment of silence, Reno laughed and flipped a bird at the wall. The dark-skinned turk turned his eyes to the wall behind the desk where "Rufus" supposedly sat one more time before walking out of the windowless room and dimming the lights to a comfortable level. He silently locked the door behind him.
He passed a crying Elena in the hallway, passed a downcast Cloud Strife at the parking lot, but did not stop walking until he reached the cemetery that overlooked the remains of Midgar. There he sought out two headstones bearing ShinRa's logo.
He bowed respectfully to the one that was a mere monument with an empty casket, before kneeling down by the other grave. He studied the ShinRa logo for one brief moment, and took another to study Tseng's name. Then he began to speak, reporting to Tseng's memory like he did every day since ShinRa's fall, keeping his promise to Reno.
The End.
Ah, I do love making Reno go insane. For those who couldn't figure it out, this story is placed after the game.
As for the differences in writing Shinra (and ShinRa) in this story, I decided to use 'Shinra' when referring to the person or family, and ShinRa when referring to the company. It may look silly, but I think it's the proper way of writing it… So deal with it.