Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and its characters are not mine and I don't receive any profit from writing this work of fiction.
Author's Note: This was my first story in English and now—almost three years later—I decided to upload an edited version of this story. The plot is the same, I just made some corrections on the text, because I realized there were many spelling mistakes. This new version was beta'ed by Nightlore, and I'm really lucky to have the help of such a great author :)
Company in Hell
Reno was going to be late—nice first impression on his admission test. After giving up on his uniform, he rushed through metallic gray corridors until he found his superior. Reno had his suit and part of his shirt opened and looked as if he had ran nonstop; probably because he had.
He wants to kill me. I know it, it's in his eyes.
Tseng walked slowly towards Reno's direction, until he stopped right in front of him, so his dark eyes could inspect the state of the redhead's clothes.
"You're missing a tie."
"No... It's here," Reno put his fingers in his suit's pocket to retrieve the delicate piece of fabric. "I tried to put it on but... It's more difficult than it looks. C'mon, don't tell me you never had problems with your first time, I mean..."
"You buttoned your shirt the wrong way," stated Tseng. "Is it that hard to do right too?"
"Well, I was in a hurry, y'know."
"A Turk who doesn't even know how to dress himself..." Tseng took some steps around the nervous young man. "What should I expect—"
"There's more important things than goddamn clothes!"
Tseng stared back at Reno again—a dark eyebrow arched slightly, but dangerously; the room's temperature dropped.
"Man, I know I fucked up everything already, but I swear, if you just let me show you how good I can be as a Turk... Just let me get one more opportunity! I won't let you down!"
Tseng contemplated the young man before him, making Reno even more nervous.
"You'll have your opportunity to prove your worth, today, as planned."
Then Reno felt warm fingers on his chest and even though he couldn't understand exactly what was happening, soon... he understood. The man was working on his shirt, correcting the rows of buttons he did wrong, patiently, so Reno had time to analyze his boss. He was a bit shorter; his dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Tseng was older than him, but Reno couldn't guess by how much. His face was as flawless as of a man in his early twenties, but he should be older; his body was slim like those of martial artists; he had nice hands too, Reno could feel the fingers brushing his neck while the man placed the tie around it.
Soon Reno was a presentable Turk... Well, sort of...
Tseng inspected again the result of his work on the young man's uniform and seemed to be satisfied. He started to walk until he entered the elevator, followed by Reno.
"It's going to be a very simple task."
"You're joking, right?" Reno smiled.
Tseng was still serious. "I'm going to ask you to do one single thing," he handed a photograph of a happy family to the redhead, "The man is missing; two weeks by now. As you see, he has a wife and two children: a boy, age 7; and a girl, age 4.
"Do they have dogs?"
The older man was silent for a moment; until his voice could be hear again, "They have two Golden Retrievers."
"I love those dogs! They are big and soft and make me wanna roll with them on the grass!"
"..."
"So... Do you want me to find the man?" Reno asked after the awkward silence, before the elevator's door opened to reveal a large room with metallic walls.
"We've found him already."
The man from the picture was in the center of the room, restrained, tied to a chair, blindfolded.
"You have five minutes," Tseng handed a gun to Reno, "Relax, take your time, then..."
Reno looked at his boss with sudden disbelief, "Y'know, he can't even fight back."
"Do you want it to be more complicated?"
"No... What I mean—"
It was then the captive man awakened by hearing the voices; he started to scream for help.
"Reno..." Tseng looked deep into green eyes, "You never killed someone," that was a statement.
For a moment, the redhead stared quietly into nothing.
"I see the point," Reno finally said.
"You cannot expect to become a Turk and never..."
"I know! I know! Dammit!" Reno held the gun and walked to the direction of the blindfolded man.
"Five minutes starting... Now," Tseng's voice cut through the silence sharply, but echoed in Reno's ear like a bell.
"No no no no no..." The captive man heard the footsteps getting closer. "I did nothing wrong!"
"Is it true? Tseng?!" Reno inquired.
"I don't wanna rush you but time is running out."
"I... I have a family, I have two kids waiting for me at home... And..." the man pleaded.
"Okay, okay, stop it!" Reno told the desperate man.
Damn I'll hate myself for letting Golden Retrievers become orphans...
Reno pointed the gun to his target's head.
After hearing a click, the man began to plead again... And his voice kept running through Reno's head over and over…
…And time passed…
…As if it was a small eternity.
"4:55."
"Fucking bastards!" Reno threw the gun on Tseng's chest and walked to the elevator.
The leader Turk followed the younger man, "You almost didn't make it, but you did. Congratulations, now you will be able to become a real Turk."
"A murderer in uniform," Reno said with a bitter smile.
"It was your choice."
Reno stared at his superior angrily, took off the tie and tossed it on his face. That atmosphere was suffocating him, so he opened the top of his shirt.
The elevator reached the main floor and both walked out.
"Look," Tseng suddenly stopped and stared at Reno, "I know it's not the best way to comfort you, but you'll get used to it. It's not every time we have to do things like that."
"Yeah just the occasional killing," Reno said sarcastically.
Tseng sighed deeply, before speaking again, "What is done is done, there's no turning back now."
No turning back…
"Yeah... I guess you're right," Reno said bitterly. "Now all that's left for me to do is getting into a bar and take a few shots before I collapse somewhere... Then everything will be alright..."
"Do you want me to come along with you?"
Reno was startled by the unexpected question, but then he felt a warm hand on his shoulder and started to calm down. He walked slowly towards the exit of the building, thinking...
I just bought my ticket to hell, why not have some company for the journey?
"Yeah," Reno smiled. "Why not?"
They walked side by side on the streets bathed by a golden sunset. Happy footsteps and giggles could be heard nearby where some children played. Soon the bars would be crowded and they would be already drunk... Well, Reno would be drunk and Tseng would have to carry him home...
"You were gonna kill me," Reno just said.
"Excuse me?" Tseng eyed the redhead in question.
"If I didn't kill the guy, you were going to shoot my head open. I know too much for you guys to simply let me go if I failed."
Tseng cleared his throat and adjusted his tie absentmindedly, "Nothing personal, it's just…"
"...Our job," Reno smirked to Tseng and entered the bar.
A/N: Thank you for reading and, please, review. It's nice to hear the reader's opinion; I'd definitely want to know what I could do to be a better author.