If Reno had been some kind of fancy artist, he might have contemplated how something that could cause so much fear and destruction could look so beautiful; then he probably would have started writing poetry or music, or maybe would have started some abstract painting meant to convey how humanity deserved its current fate. The good thing was that he wasn't –that was always more Cissnei's line of thinking– but he couldn't deny there was some chilling irony about how the massive rock hovering over their planet, about to crush everything he knew, was incredibly… Not beautiful… Oh, what did it matter what exact word was used, it looked cool. End of story.
He lit up a smoke, inhaling and exhaling a rush of nicotine as he stared up at the sky at the impending destruction of the planet which had shown itself three days prior. Everyone knew Sephiroth was the cause, what they didn't know was that ShinRa wasn't lying about AVALANCHE being the culprits. For once their scapegoat was the real deal.
Well, in a roundabout way it was ShinRa's fault, but he wasn't about to pick at details.
Cloud Strife. He should have killed the douche bag while he'd had the chance. Maybe then they wouldn't be in their current predicament, the end of the world approaching and lurking over them. He might not have been there, but he'd heard what happened, how the spiky haired idiot had handed the Black Materia over to Sephiroth. Might not have been his fault, and Hojo was really to blame, but circumstances happened, life sucked, and Cloud was just the unfortunate soul to get fucked by the sharp end of the stick this time. Fact of the matter was Cloud was to blame and Reno felt like a complete and total failure for allowing Cloud to go free in Wutai and not killing him on the spot while he had no materia to fight back with. Of course they didn't know of Sephiroth's plans then, but he wasn't an idiot, he'd seen the files and knew what Cloud really was. It was inevitable that he became a pawn in the grand scheme. With Cloud dead the world would be suffering much less grief.
Then again, even without one pawn Sephiroth would've just used another to get him that Black Materia. They'd all still be just as fucked as they were now with that giant ass rock in the sky and the WEAPONs roaming about the planet. The plans ShinRa had come up with so far were pretty farfetched, as much as he hated to admit it, and to be honest he wasn't sure at that point if the company was really what the world needed. He knew ShinRa was draining the planet dry of life and frankly he didn't care since it really wasn't going to affect him in this life; but he was very much conscious of the fact that such actions also had a role to play in their current predicament. Maybe it was time to give someone else the reins, see what they could do? He had faith in ShinRa, but couldn't deny that they were starting to take everything to a whole new level. After Zirconiade he had started to question the company's dealings, specifically after trying to assassinate his family, the Turks which had just saved the world from complete destruction. Shouldn't they have been looked upon as heroes rather than traitors? And ever since then everything had escalated, from dropping the plate on Sector 7 to kidnapping a four year old girl… the company wasn't what it used to be. Could they really keep depending on a bunch of executives who'd lost it over their thirst for power?
The undying faith he had in the company that had given him so much, given him a life... it was starting to crack under the pressure; it was obvious that a backup plan was needed, and while Heidegger and Scarlet had several, Reno was fairly certain most of them would end the same way all their weapons did, blowing up in their faces. They needed something new, something different, and that's when his thoughts trailed to blonde spikes again.
Other than Elfe, Cloud was the only person alive to ever give Sephiroth a run for his money, and Elfe really was in no shape to even think of trying such a feat. Blowing up Meteor was nice and all, but if they really wanted to get rid of the threat to Gaia they'd have to get rid of the source, A.K.A. the silver haired mofo himself. He hated to admit it, but Cloud was probably the only hope they would ever have of defeating Sephiroth. Cloud was their backup plan.
…And their backup plan had gotten himself tossed into a sea of Mako. Fucking wonderful, wasn't it?
However, for some reason, somewhere along the line he had started to respect Cloud, and now that respect was turning into faith. He had faith he was still alive somewhere, that he'd snap out of whatever Mako poisoning he'd undergone and maybe, just maybe, he'd save them all. Sure, he was probably going to be a brat and try and stop every one of ShinRa's plans in the meantime, but Reno found that for once he was going to directly violate orders. As far as he was concerned his orders to kill Cloud had now become null and void. He was not killing the kid, if anything he was going to try and help him if he could find a way to do so without getting a target on his own head.
With a last drag of his cigarette he dropped it on the ground and crushed it with his boot, taking a breath of fresh salt air, a new resolve and spark alive within him. It felt exhilarating, knowing he was going to directly disobey his orders, a new rush of adrenaline with every step.
They needed that backup plan, and he was going to use everything in his power to keep him alive