status ongoing
background takes place about a year after the Advent Children movie
warnings language, naturally
pairings future relena
disclaimer i do not own ffvii


1. It's Just A Bad Dream!


There's a feeling that many people get when something bad is about to happen. Most people call it intuition. Reno likes to call it gut; mostly because that's where it hits him.

Reno knew he was in for a shitty day the moment he opened his eyes that morning. The hangover was killing him and the blinding sun entering the room from the open curtains was not helping at all. He swore to never drink that much again in a week night. But then again, he was never good at keeping promises.

He slowly dragged his body out of the bed and walked his way to the bathroom, feeling the remnants of alcohol in his system trying to tackle him on the ground. Every step he took echoed in his ears, making his head ache even more. Reno threw up –fortunately, in the toilet– the moment he stepped into the bathroom. Maybe be did have too much to drink last night.

Hopping into the shower, Reno prayed that the cold water would help him with his problem. It did. When he stepped out of the shower, the terrible headache was still there, but he felt fresh and he hoped that with some painkillers, the pain would fade away.

Reno brushed his teeth to get rid of the bitter taste of vomit in his mouth and moved to his bedroom. Searching for something to put on for a good five minutes, he threw on his black pants and a white shirt, never tucking it in his pants and leaving the first two buttons undone. He grabbed his goggles and pushed them up onto his forehead. Slipping on his shoes and jacket, and picking up his keys and a packet of cigarettes, he was good to go. Reno exited his apartment with one last glance towards the clock on his wall. He smirked. He would be at work just in time to be late.

The car ride to work was unusually silent for Reno. Normally, he would turn the music on at maximum volume and blast his car's speakers, earning honking from annoyed car drivers. He soenjoyed annoying people. And he was the master of annoyance. Today, however, Reno was driving silently and abnormally carefully. His headache was killing him.

Reno pulled his car in the parking lot and walked to the building that roofed the Shinra HQ. He got into the elevator and pressed the button for the 45th floor. The 'ding' noise the elevator made every time it stopped on a floor made his mind explode. His head felt heavier with each passing second. When he reached his floor, he hurried his way to the office he, Rude and Elena shared. Opening the door, he saw Rude and Elena already sitting on their desks and doing paperwork.

"Good morning," said Elena, while Rude simply nodded at him.

"Yeah, it's a great morning," Reno replied sarcastically and sat down on his office chair, crossing his hands on the desk in front of him and laying his suffering red head on his hands, face down.

"You're hangover, again?" Elena asked in a surprised tone. It wasn't even a week since the last time Rude and herself had been dragging Reno's drunk ass at his apartment because he was in no state to return home by himself.

"Yeah, so what?" Reno mumbled.

"You will never grow up," Elena muttered but Reno didn't seem to notice as he was too busy trying to find a way to make his head stop aching.

"Can someone get me some painkillers and a coffee?" Reno asked without looking up.

Elena and Rude exchanged glances and Elena sighed. It was their usual morning ritual. She stood up from her seat and left the office, closing the door behind her with a soft 'click'. Reno groaned and looked up to find Elena missing. He smirked and turned at Rude.

"She loves me."

Rude rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses. "How's the hangover?"

"Head feels like shit," Reno whined and Rude continued typing on his computer. "Hey, can you stop that thing?"

"Stop what thing?" Rude asked.

"The typing thing. It echoes in my brain and makes it hurt."

Rude sighed. "Why didn't you call in sick?"

Reno laughed but it soon died down when he realized it was making his head hurt even more. "Tseng will never again believe me if I call in sick."

"It's your fault for prank-calling him."

"Well, it's fun. God damn it, where's Elena? My head's about to explode!" Reno exclaimed and buried his head in his hands. Clearly, he had forgotten that his own voice made his head hurt more.

Rude shook his head at his friend's actions. Reno couldn't shut up to save his life.

Elena entered the room a few minutes later, a cup of coffee in one hand and a couple of painkillers in the other. She placed then on top of Reno's desk and sat down on her own. Reno grinned at her and swallowed the pills. He took the hot mug in his hands and leaned back on his chair, propping his feet on his desk and sipping his coffee.

Half an hour later, Tseng entered the Turks' shared office with some files in his hands. Elena and Rude looked up and greeted him, while Reno was sound asleep in his desk with his head lying on top of it, buried in his hands. Tseng sighed.

"Hangover again?" he asked the Turks.

Rude nodded.

"He's been drinking like a fish, again," Elena confirmed.

Tseng sighed again. "Someone has to talk him out of this."

"He won't listen anyways," said Rude.

"You're probably right. Making Reno quit drinking is a lost cause. Here are the reports of your previous mission. Fill them out," Tseng said and gave them the files. The Turks mentally groaned. More paperwork, Elena thought. Tseng nodded at them and left the office.

Soon after that, Reno's phone ringing echoed in the silent room. The other two Turks didn't look up but Reno groaned loudly.

"For God's sake, make it stop!" Reno groaned.

"It's your phone, Reno," Elena said with a roll of her eyes.

Reno cursed under his breath and searched into his jacket for his cell phone. When he found it, he pressed the answer button and pressed the device against his ear.

"Who?" he asked rudely. The person on the end of the line murmured something, causing Reno's eyebrows to narrow. "Yeah, that's me. Who is this?" More murmuring could be heard and Reno remained still in his seat. "Who?" he repeated the question to the person; Reno wasn't good at comprehending things when being abruptly woken up. "When?"

He sighed. "Give me the address." He scrabbled something on a paper. "I'm on my way." Reno hung up the phone and stood up.

Elena and Rude eyed him warily. "What happened?" Rude asked.

"I don't know. Some shit with a lawyer. I'll be back," he said and left the office hastily.

The two Turks exchanged looks. Reno's behaviour was too awkward to ignore. They would just have to wait until he returned to find out what was wrong.

And they did.

Two hours later, a very moonstruck Reno entered the office. His colleagues looked at him with questioning eyes. Elena walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay, Reno?"

Reno looked at her with troubled aquamarine eyes. His voice was trembling when he whispered, "I… I have a kid."

Then his world went black.