Hidden Power
Summery: There is a small race of people hidden away in the world capable of intense power. Some call it magic others simply think of it as hell force, all evil. In truth it is nothing more then a gift from deep within the person. Normal humans will not accept these people, thinking them of a horrible threat to life, so they are hidden deep within the normal ranks, peacefully living their lives out. But such peace died when a force know as Shinra rose to control these people for its own evil intention. The race had then been forced to rise in defense against mass murders and kidnapping to no avail. These people became known as Adepts. Listen to their story as two Adepts find love in a ravaged and dieing world.
Reno/Tseng, Cloud/Zack
A/N: Hah! The Second Chapter is up! I'm afraid it's not much longer then the first one but I'm getting there. I'll say it again, this is ALTERNATE UNIVERSE and YAOI so if you have a problem with any of those then you should turn back right now. Thanks and Enjoy!!
Also MERRY CHRISTMAS FOLKS! Think of this update a small gift for all you internet, Fanfiction readers!
Review Replies:
Nagisha-chan: Ah, thanks. It's a kinda strange idea but neat. Glad to know it's caught your eye. As for updating, heh, sorry, but look at the end of the story.
Elfanyan: Thanks, thanks. Yes there will be more 'plotish goodness' though maybe not in this chapter as much as I would like. Again, thanks for the complement on my character writing! That gives me a dangerous confidence boost. There is a reason I have a low self-esteem hehe.
Thank you both for the wonderful review and I hope to hear from you again and from many others!
Chapter Two:
"We're here."
Reno opened his eyes and gazed up at the immense building. At 80 floors high the Shinra Headquarters was the largest structure in the region. As much as he hated to admit it, he was impressed. Reno yawned and sniffed, his short nap had recharged him a bit he didn't feel quite as wiped out.
Tseng looked at him sternly,
"Look, I'm supposed to have you doped on the Serum but I really don't want to have to do that again until we know exactly what it did to you. So, I'll need your word that you won't try to do anything, both because any attempt you make at using your Power in your state could kill you and bring the whole wrath of Shinra down on us."
Reno ran a hand through the back of his hair and sighed,
"That bleak, huh?"
Tseng hid a frown at that but nodded. Finally Reno nodded,
"Okay, fine."
They got out and Tseng led him wordlessly into the building.
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As they headed for the elevator, Reno got a good look around.
'Holy shit. I thought this place was impressive from the outside.' They got in and Tseng used a keycard to select the 80th floor.
"As you know the Tower has 80 floors. The 80th floor is where the President and his son, the vice-president, have their offices. The 79th floor is reserved for the Weapons Department, then the Science level and the Military floor is under that. We are Shinra's greatest weapons so we have the 76th floor all to ourselves. Our offices and our apartments are kept on this floor, although there are only two Adepts currently employed to Shinra."
Reno leaned back against the elevator wall,
"Two Adepts? Who's the other one?"
Tseng shook his head,
"You'll meet him."
"What's his Power?"
"He's an Earth Adept."
"No shit? Never met one of those."
He watched the numbers go up and thought of something,
"Hey, so there are just three of us? That's not very good odds to take Shinra on with."
Tseng nodded,
"I know but there are actually Adepts in SOLDIER."
Reno raised an eyebrow,
"Really?"
"Yes, and Shinra doesn't even know it. Take Cloud and Zack for example. Zack is a Wind Adept and Cloud is a Water Adept but the Mako treatments that Shinra makes them go through to make them stronger has forced their Power dormant. Thus the fact that they are Adepts have been hidden from everyone, including themselves, only I can tell."
"So how many are there?"
Tseng shook his head,
"I'm not sure, but there should be enough."
The elevator dinged and slid open.
"Remember Reno," Tseng reminded, "Be respectful."
Reno nodded and followed him down the hall to a secretary's desk. The woman looked up at them and waved at a large door,
"Go right in."
As they walked through the door, Reno inspected it. It was a very thick sturdy door that a group of SOLDIERS probably couldn't break down. Reno smirked to himself, certain he could easily burn it down. His fingers itched to release his power and test it but instead he clenched his fist and fought it down.
The office they had just walked into was huge, to put it mildly. Seated behind a large steel desk was a fat man in a red suit. He must be the president, Reno thought. Standing beside the desk was a young man in an incredibly clean white suit with perfectly combed white blond hair. It was the eyes that caught his attention though. They were a cold, hateful blue that seemed to read his mind when they caught his and he tore his gaze away with a shiver. Tseng stopped a few feet in front of the desk and Reno was only a step behind him. The President looked at them with beady black eyes, empty but for greed, entirely different from the younger blond.
"Tseng, is that him?"
Tseng nodded without a word. The President leaned forward and eyed Reno from head to toe, the red head's skin crawling as he did so. Finally the man sank back into his leather chair, lacing his fingers across his fat stomach,
"Do you have any idea how many SOLDIERS you've cost me?"
Reno shook his head,
"I didn't count, sir."
"57. 33 of which I heard you killed with one blast."
He shrugged, not sure of how to answer.
"And what's your skill, 'Reno'?" The fat man inquired with a sickening undertone, saying his name strangely.
"Fire, sir." Reno managed to sound calm, despite the hairs rising on the back of his neck.
The President nodded,
"That's a lot of Power and I understand you're willing to work for Shinra?"
Reno nodded, "Yes, sir."
"I trust Tseng has explained the details?"
"I have, Sir." Tseng finally replied.
The fat man stared at them for a minute more, before calmly waving a hand at them in dismissal. Tseng sort of bowed and turned to walk away. Reno paused and glanced at the blond, only to find himself caught in the blue stare. Reno shivered and tore himself free, hurrying after Tseng, still feeling that spiteful glare on his back. Once the door closed behind them Reno sighed,
"That was slightly creepy."
Tseng gave him a look,
"You handled that pretty well."
'For being creeped out.' Reno thought before shrugging,
"He didn't do anything to piss me off yet."
Tseng shook his head,
"Well, I'll take you to meet your partner now."
"Partner?"
"Your new, so you'll have a partner until you've settled in."
Reno sighed,
"Great, I wonder how long it will take until I piss him off." He almost sounded as if he was relishing the challenge.
Tseng snorted.
They boarded the elevator and Reno remembered the man who had said not a word through out the entire meeting.
"Tseng? Who was that blond in the room with us?"
"That was Rufus Shinra, the president's son."
Reno raised an eyebrow,
"He looks nothing like the Pres."
Tseng just shook his head,
"You stay away from him Reno, he's still a Shinra and possibly even more dangerous then his father."
"Got it."
They got off the elevator and walked down a hall.
"My office is the last door on the right."
Tseng stopped at a door about three before Tseng's own on the same side,
"This one is yours and right across the hall is your partner's."
Reno made to ask Tseng who it was when the single biggest man he's ever clapped eyes on stepped from the office across the way. The man was bald; a wall of sheer muscle with dark sunglasses that completely hid the man's eyes. He well towered over the rest of them by at least a head. Vocabulary taking a small vacation, Reno just barely stopped himself from gaping like a fish as he stared at the man.
"Rude." Tseng said calmly, "This is Reno, your new partner."
Reno turned his unbelieving stare on Tseng now,
"Are you shitting me?! He's fucking huge!"
"Remember that." The man even spoke like a true giant, with a deep, commanding voice that dared one to mess with him. Reno gathered himself together and ran a hand thorough his hair, sighing,
"Unbe-fucking-lievable."
Tseng smirked,
"Reno, this is Rude, he's the Earth Adept."
"Um, good meeting you…I think."
Rude just nodded.
"Tomorrow will be your first official day." Tseng said, "For now I'll just take you to your apartment. Rude, feel free to take this day off if you're caught up on paperwork."
Rude nodded and Tseng looked at Reno,
"Ready?"
As they once again descended in the elevator Tseng took the opportunity to fill him in a bit more.
"Because we are not very well trusted and are pretty feared we have apartments in the building. We may still go out at anytime off duty so you are not confined to the Tower."
Reno nodded, still thinking about that giant of a man.
"So, what's his story?" Reno asked.
"Who's?"
"Rude's."
Tseng looked at him in disapproval,
"What's yours?"
Reno flinched,
"Okay, I get your point."
There was silence again, then,
"Is his name short for something else? I mean who would name their kid 'Rude'?"
Tseng sighed.
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Tseng stopped outside a door and handed Reno a keycard,
"This is your key to all areas you're allowed in, your room, the training area, elevator floors and other such places. If you lose this you will be cut off and have to pay to have a new one created again for you."
Reno took the keycard and examined it,
"Okay, don't lose it. Right."
"Just swipe it through and open the door."
Reno nodded and did as he was told. The door beeped and the red light turned green. He opened the door and led Tseng inside his apartment. It was of a nice size with a generous kitchen, a living room, bathroom and bedroom with a queen sized bed. Reno whistled,
"Cool."
"The kitchen has already been stocked with some basic foods, you'll have to shop for your preferences later."
"Yeah, sure." Reno headed straight for the kitchen and began to search it. Tseng stood in the door way and just watched him. The red head's movements were confident and quick as though he couldn't sit still, and he moved with a surprisingly fluid grace. Once again, he found himself trying to guess Reno's age. He still thought early 20's.
"How old are you, Reno?"
Reno pulled his head out of a cupboard and looked over his shoulder at him.
"Hmmm? 25, why?"
Tseng raised an eyebrow,
"25? You look younger then that."
Reno closed the cupboard and turned around to sit on the counter,
"Yeah, I get that a lot. How old are you?"
"33."
Reno smirked,
"I guess I'm not the only one."
Tseng frowned,
"What?"
"You look younger then 33."
Tseng went silent to take that in. Reno hopped off the counter and stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"Okay, so now what?"
Tseng cleared his throat,
"If you're done here I'll take you to the training floor. It's reserved special to the Adepts and our 'unique' Powers."
Reno's eyes widened,
"Really? Awesome!"
"Come on then, and always remember to lock your door."
"Okay, okay. Let's just go."
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The training room was huge. The floor was nothing more then bare earth due to being a sublevel and underground. Set up was every kind of target and training scenario you could imagine, from water to Reno's own fire. It had a very high domed ceiling perfect for controlling or creating the winds.
"I know you're on the weak side still, but I want you to do one thing for me." Tseng said to Reno.
Reno raised and eyebrow,
"Yeah, what?"
"I want you to summon your sword. I've never seen anyone do that before."
"Oh, this?"
That same burning blade appeared and Reno gripped it loosely, as if he couldn't feel the heat it radiated off as flames licked and danced in a sword like shape.
"Yes, that's quite impressive."
"Really?" Reno asked, looking at it in question, "But it's not difficult to do and it takes almost no energy to maintain."
"Your special, Reno." Tseng said, gesturing for Reno to follow him. Reno let the blade burn out and followed him to an array of different swords hanging on a wall. Tseng stood off to the side and said,
"Pick one, any one."
Reno studied them and picked one most similar to his other hotter blade, it was of medium length and most matched. Reno looked over to Tseng,
"Now what?"
"Rude can transform a regular sword to an Earth Sword similar to your flame one. See if you can do the same, it might make your flame blade more powerful."
Reno shrugged,
"Okay."
He held the blade in front of him with both hands firmly on the hilt. He felt a rush of warmth flow through his hands and flames licked down the sword, possessing it. Reno looked over to Tseng, uncertainly,
"Like this?"
Tseng nodded,
"Very good. How does it feel? Compared to the plain fire one?"
Reno sighed,
"I'm not impressed. It only hindered my Power, it anything it made me weaker. Rude should learn how to summon like I do with Salamandra."
Tseng raised an eyebrow,
"Salamandra?" That's what you named it?"
Reno nodded somewhat stiffly. As he recalled his fire his eyes took on a guarded shadow,
"Yeah, why?"
Tseng shook his head as Reno returned the sword,
"Nothing. I'm going to see if you can't teach Rude to do that tomorrow. For now, I want you to go home and rest, you need to recharge. Tomorrow I'll have the scientist check you out and fix the Serum so it won't hurt you again."
Frowning, Reno nodded slightly,
"Oh, okay. See you later, boss."
The red head ignored his surroundings, turned and left. Tseng stared after him long after he was gone, blinking at the sudden coldness in how he acted.
----------
Humming to himself, Reno headed back to his apartment, earning some very strange looks from the few other Shinra employers who were wandering around trying to look as if they were doing something important. Not really caring or paying attention, he headed straight back for his apartment, mind reeling as his new reality started to sink in. He was now completely at the mercy of Shinra, he was at the heart of all his pain and hate with only one, possibly two, people who could even remotely understand him. Reno absently rubbed the pulse of his left wrist, feeling the scar the marred his smooth skin. Sighing, he suddenly stopped and looked around, mouth open. He had absolutely no idea where he was.
'Good going, Reno.' He scolded himself.
He turned around and wondered if he should try to retrace his steps or just keep going. Odds were that he just took a wrong turn and got a little turned around, no big deal. Shrugging, he kept moving on. Again, he noticed something strange; he hadn't run into another Shinra employee for a while. The halls were as empty as they were mazelike.
'That's…kinda creepy.' He found himself thinking. Picking up the pace a bit he quickly came upon a set of elevators. Looking up at the floor number he gaped. He was on a completely different floor. For some reason he was on the Science Level, floor 77. He should be on the 76th. Reno felt a slight chill,
"How did I end up here?" he muttered. He was dead certain he had not taken any elevator or stairs, but still…
He stepped forward and pushed the down button. After a moment he heard the elevator start to move and stood tapping his foot as he waited. His fingers once more wandered to his wrist, as they often did when he was worried or deep in thought. Reno's head lifted as his ears caught a faint sound. Brows furrowed he took a cautious step away from the elevator, listening intently. Once the sound had grown loud enough for him to register he gasped. It was an animalistic howl, unlike anything he's ever heard. The elevator dinged open behind him and he backed in hurriedly, eyes wide with terror. Hand shaking Reno managed to swipe his card and hit the button for his floor viciously. Even as the door slid close the noise grew louder until it was cut off completely by the moving elevator. Once moving again, Reno sagged back against the wall with a large sigh.
'What the hell? Wait, I don't want to know. It has nothing to do with me and I'm going to keep it that way." As soon as the doors opened again Reno dashed out and raced to reach his apartment.
End of Chapter Two. Coming eventually not too long from now is Chapter Three.
IMPORTANT: Unfortunately, my dad just bought us all Christmas cell phones and in a few days our land line will be cut. His decision, which means that my internet access will be zero for probably close to a month if not more. My dad is not very motivated and it will probably take a while for him to bring himself to do something about it so I'm very sorry. BUT with those few months free I will be writing like MAD and when I get internet back I'll be updating like CRAZY!!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEARS, ALL!!
FireHawk038
