Disclaimer: I do not own game, animation or anything relating to Final Fantasy Seven including its characters, game plot chickens/twists and etc. Pairings: Eventual Sephiroth x Reno, mild Weiss x Reno and who knows what other pairings I'll throw in later. I'm open for suggestions.
Thank you: The following people are those I give my thanks and appreciation towards for the reasons listed with them.
- Elder sibling Kaij; for proof reading stories before they are submitted.
- Havox; for inspiring the story itself how awesome is that yo?
- CYCLE RECYCLE; from Gaia Online for being a Rufus expert, for this Rufus would not be possible without them.
- All of you, who have added this to their favorites, watched and commented! The story, thank you all for you have helped me decide in continuing this story.
The next chapter, I'm so very sorry it took so long but I wanted to make sure that this story turned out good. This actually would have been up sooner but well life happens just as shit does. As I told my reviewers I have moved to a location that has no internet access and as such updates might be slow. Especially since I have to go to my dad's to upload things and well the first day I moved in my grandmother was taken to the hospital. One thing after another but well I give up on trying to give fixed dates. Life's too hectic for such things but I can give a rough estimate. Keep in mind I do update my profile page if delays happen so if you've noticed I've been rather lax you might want to check there first before sending me a prompt. This chapter does contain SPOILERS pertaining the plot of Final Fantasy; Dirge of Cerberus. In fact quite a bit of this story might have spoilers so if you don't want things spoiled you should probably put off the story until you've played the game. Also thoughts are in italics like so 'Example thought'
__Chapter One - The Beginning of the End
Reno P.O.V
A vague half remembered shape draped in black leather, face covered by long strands of silver hair. The figure was kneeling over the prostate form of another body clothed in a Turks standard suit, a shock of black blue hair splayed over the cold stone below his feet. Slowly the face looked up from the bleeding body; a cruel smile freezing him to the spot sweat slipping down the curves of Reno's face. The eyes, empty all but void of life, reason, taking in everything missing nothing and crazed as a cornered rabid dog. The figure stood in slow motion eventually walking forward with a menacing air the bloodied sword trailing along in its grip, and abruptly Reno woke gasping from the pain that had jolted him to wakefulness. It was just a dream, it wasn't real. He shivered remaining half hunched over, feeling nausea threaten to overwhelm his senses. Just the stupid ass dream that he'd had since he found Tseng laying half dead in the Temple of Ancients back during the hunt of the rouge general Sephiroth. Of course it hadn't happened quite like it had in the dream but it had certainly given him nightmares for weeks. It must have been the silver haired git that had triggered some part of his subconscious, goddamn clones. Again he had to wonder just how many volunteers, Shinra had secretly experimented on using the Jenova cells, probably passed them out like candy before resorting to spiking the local caffeine supplies. But those were thoughts for another time; he had bigger fish to fry at the moment.
Like figuring up a plan to get out of this shithole and more urgently finding a way to stop his broken rips from puncturing a lung or organ. Grimacing with distaste and some pain Reno very carefully and very slowly straightened out his body out on the floor. Angering the silver haired captor had probably been one of the more unwise things he'd done, but then Reno didn't really fancy getting himself molested by some relative of Jenova's. 'What was his name, Weiss or something?' Bracing himself against the wall Reno slowly straightened the rest of the way suppressing his instinct to cringe back into the fetal position. About halfway up and the cell door swung open again; shit couldn't they wait till later for interrogation? The red head cautiously looked up half expecting a blow to the side of his face like last time. A small body stood in the door way clothed in blue, grey and white with a band of metal over the flat chest. Skin pale enough to show the faint outline of veins beneath the surface, short brown hair that almost touched the shoulders with bangs that curled around a feminine face, the glow of mako in orange eyes void of any emotion, Reno gaped as it hit him a little girl? They sent a little fucking girl to pick him up? Did they think he was some sort of invalid now that he'd had the shit kicked out of him? A flat monotone voice filled the small room. "Weiss is waiting, come this way." Oh so now they thought he;d follow along like some sort of meek puppy?! Reno frowned. "I ain't going anywhere yo and you- "He cut off his sentence as a blade materialized inches from his face glowing the same orange color as the mako tainting her eyes. Well shit, so the little girl was more then she seemed, should have known. Reno might be lacking a few wits from time to time but he wasn't stupid, there might yet be hope to turn the situation around. "You can tell your Weiss that I can't possibly walk since he broke my ribs on his last visit yo. " He felt a swell of pride at being able to keep the nervous edge out of his voice.
She glanced down appearing to just now realized the red head wouldn't have been able to even crawl if he had wanted to. "So it seems." The blade vanished and the girl child shifted her focus glancing behind a shoulder. "Azul.." 'Azul? What the- oh shit no!' Reno's eyes widened in much shock as a very tall very muscular man ducked through the door sideways since there was no possible fucking way he'd fit in with Reno himself and the girl. Darkly tanned skin, strong masculine features and long blue hair of all things with glowing tattoos wreathed around muscles that had to be built from bricks. Or some sort of super powered Shinra steroids. Reno was betting the latter, there just wasn't any possible way someone could be built like that."Yes Shelke? " "The prisoner appears unable to walk, and Weiss wants to see him. Make sure he is taken to the white room." "Of course." Good god he was smiling, survival instincts kicked into action making Reno involuntarily shrink back and tense hesitating on the verge of fight or flight. The brick man somehow fit in as the girl slid out and before Reno could even attempt to slide past the man he was grabbed and not the 'Nice try but I don't think so ' kind of grab but a 'Where the fuck do you think you're going little bitch' grab. Needless to say he was very glad for the sudden distraction of the world turning from grey to black as he lost conscious once again.
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Weiss P.O.V
Something was wrong, and not in some de'ja vu voodoo moment wrong. Weiss frowned down at the unconscious red headed Turk sprawled and strapped onto the steel table below. Lightly and almost nervously he reached out tracing fingers over the face of his captive. Vague laughter and jumbled mad thoughts streaked through his mind; shortly following it he couldn't shake the feeling that slimy tendrils of another's thoughts slowly crawled up and over his mind twisting to reach deeper into the subconscious. Moving slowly as if it was somehow memorizing the way his mind worked, as if it was slowly taking over portions of his mind before slithering deeper into his mind. The lead Tsviet shivered trying to pull his focus back to the present suppressing the filthy mental touches. It was a lie, paranoia, a fear that his mind had gripped and refused to drop. Nothing like that can happen, nowhere that Weiss knew of keep any document pertaining mind control or anything related to it. He was certain, he was sure; he just had to be imagining things. Maybe Nero was right he really should take a break and let the others find the cure for the virus running rampant through his body.
But they couldn't be trusted, only Nero and even then his brother could only do so much with his own special gifts constantly threatening to break free from its restraints to devour anything in its path. They had all feared Nero too much to teach him any control; none of the idiotic keepers would even know where to start. At least now Nero was free, finally free from the confinement of that pillar and room he had only teach himself how to control it. But that would take time, time Weiss did not have and could not afford to lose. They would pay for locking them away, they would all pay. Turquoise eyes flickered over the red headed one he couldn't help but smirk as he noticed the enraged alarmed expression stuck on the Turks face. "My my finally awake I see." So much fun these Turks were proving to be. This one in the very least, Weiss relished the chance to find how long it would take to break the red heads spirit.
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Reno P.O.V
"Uhhgh" Reno slowly blinked awake, squinting over the glare of bright florescent lights that hung over head. An involuntary pull of both arms informed his sluggish mind that he was bound tightly to a cool smooth surface. 'Where the hell?' He tilted his head a little to the side looking around the space taking everything in with one short glance. The color scheme was familiar a white and dull grey spread over in a pattern he recalled seeing in the labs that filled part of Shinra's many floors. In fact, it was all very familiar; everything was in the same place. The same design, hell maybe if he squinted his eyes he could make out the Shinra Logo engraved over a cabinet door. His face visibly paled as thoughts slowly clicked together. A ShinRa lab? But then, well he had been crawling over the ruin of the building, how was this possible? Then again Shinra was spread just about worldwide. Still Reno visibly paled more, there had been an incident years ago when he was still a rookie within the Turk ranks. Uncover on a mission and some goon had managed to knock him cold out, the next he could recall was awaking in a situation similar. The only difference was that at that time Hojo had been leaning over the table with a cruel crazed expression. About to cut into him when Veld stormed in, Tseng at the time was still in training himself. Reno squirmed unconsciously, those few minutes had been enough to leave deep mental scars. Hojo was not pleased to lose such a Specimen and despite Veld's orders several attempts had been made to snatch him back. Lucky enough the bastard eventually forgot his existence and focused whole heatedly on the general. It came to no surprise the general snapped after his friends defecting. 'Shit hyperventilating. Calm down yo, no way some mad scientist is gonna pop outta nowhere and cut me open.'
The Turk turned his head over stubbornly pushing away the knowledge that he was strapped down to a metal operating table. However the suppressed panic and rage quickly slipped loose as he finally spotted Weiss standing directly next to the table a distant expression in place, a tray of cutting implants sitting off to the side. If only the straps where a little looser, Reno's slight jerk of movement pulled the man's attention outward and down. "My my finally awake I see." Reno's expression darkened before he quickly removed all trace of emotion, recalling the damage he had earned earlier with his usual arrogant cocky temper. "Tsk I see I'll have to play with you to get those lovely reactions I adore." The silver haired one smirked cruelly and leaned down the glow of Weiss's eyes flickering with excitement. "What was it that drew such a reaction last time?" Weiss mused to himself as Reno remained stubbornly silent. There have been many other incidents that had turned worse than this, the Turk would endure and he would survive long enough to spit in the bastards face before putting a few bullets through his skull. "Oh yes that's right, something like this?" The mocking tone automatically made Reno's body freeze before a cold hand slid beneath his disheveled work shit. Reno kept his expression blank refusing to give in despite the faint alarmed anger that threatened to surface. Dammit he'd been through worse, growing up in the slums had left him with much more darker memories then he'd care to have. 'Just tune it out yo; tune all of it out except the skills needed to survive.' Fingers lightly crawled over his chest and Reno couldn't help but cringe lightly. The ribs were still broken after all and the lightest touch had sent a stabbing pain deep through the skin upon contact. "Opps I'd forgotten that I've already injured you haven't I? Sometimes I just forget my own strength." Weiss pressed down harder over the spot his fingers lingered. The Turk instantly gasped very nearly whimpering even as the hand pulled back.
A triumphant grin stretched over the lower half of Weiss's face then quickly vanished. The man's stray hand snapped up to his temples apply light pressure as eyes scrunched shut the other free hand curled around Reno's wrist and squeezed painfully. The Turk could only vaguely make out the expression of pained concentration and paranoia over the Weiss's face while the pain left white spots clouding his vision. 'ShitShitShitShit' Weiss's eyes snapped open a different color then they'd been before, a dull brown marked with madness hand in hand with a deep intelligence. The second Reno had registered the change it was gone replaced with Weiss's usual lurid turquoise eye color tainted with his cruel nature. The death grip over his wrist loosened considerably then drew back. Reno heaved a sigh of relief, he had been afraid that his wrist would end up cracked or broken like his ribs had. The eyes, a trick of his mind surly eyes did not change like that. Perhaps a recollection of being in Hojo's hands the pain must have somehow triggered it. Hands tightly gripped the cheap leather belt around the Turks waist alerting Reno that he had momentarily blanked out and that Weiss was on the move again. His movements and gestures had turned more frantically violent faintly muttering undistinguished words under the breath as he pulled the belts loose. The Turks mind quickly supplied answers to fill the blanks on what was going on and before he could stop himself he began to struggle. "Fuck no! Go play with your friend's yo, I ain't interested." Weiss chuckled darkly not even bothering to glance up his skin covered with a faint sheen of sweat. "What are you going to do about it hmm?" He then glanced upwards his lips twisted into a dark smile as Weiss leaned up invading personal space. "Resist?" He laughed again the sound eerily echoed around the room "Go ahead I love it when you struggle, I love drawing a reaction, and I will enjoy breaking your spirit as much as I will enjoy breaking your body. Not all at once of course, we will need you to at least give the illusion of being in one piece after all.■"Weiss began to lightly pet the side of Reno's face again; the Turk himself could hardly suppress the panic.
Something was off; Reno had seen the eye colors flicker more than once during the last few sentences. So distracted he hardly felt the rough petting over his groin only jerked back from the sharp pain of being squeezed far too tightly to be pleasurable. Reno gasped cringing as much as the restraints allowed, the world swam around for quite a few minutes before righting itself. The movement had agitated the previous injuries done. Oddly enough as his vision cleared he noticed Weiss standing off further to the side his back to the Turk. The muscles of Weiss's back obviously tensed, Reno had missed the cause in between the harsh pain and impaired vision. Faintly a familiar crazed laugh echoed around the room, Reno's eyes jumped around seeking the source. That sound, he knew it. Unique as it was the laugh had haunted many a dream of his. It wasn't until seeking eyes found nothing that with faint horror Reno realized the laugh came from no other then Weiss. Slowly the mad man turned and looking back out from the man's face was none other than Hojo. A syringe held in the off left hand, glowing brightly the way untainted pure mako did. "Well hello my precious specimen. " The world once again thankfully faded to black.
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Tseng's P.O.V
From the frying pan into the fire, or so Tseng had heard Elena mumble to herself so many times before during missions gone wrong. The Wutai man had never thought he himself would ever apply those words to any current day dilemma. Although considering the number of times he'd experienced the light touch of deaths shroud the words should have been engraved on the foundation of his being. He had grown use to it; the words were useless to Tseng for everything that went well would always eventually turn sour in some way. Then instead of landing the final blow he expected, it would be another someone much closer to him that would be hadn't made him this anxious since he sent his subordinates out to find young Fair before Shinra's armies did. Tseng flinched at the memory and hastily stuffed it back into the corner of his mind ignoring the brief stab of emotions that followed it. Past was past, this time would have to be different Reno would be found alive. Reeve informed him only hours before that whole populaces of towns and villages have been vanishing, even WRO teams sent in to investigate vanished hours after reaching their destination. Tseng had a very strong suspicion that these events had something to do with Reno's earlier disappearance. He also suspected that the old remains of Shinra's building in Midgar just might be the headquarters or the center of the cause of the disappearances.
What other place could some wanna be villain be hiding after all? Quite often vermin had the thought of hiding in places they think others would least expect them to be or perhaps it was just some ironic twist of fate. Dark brown eyes anxiously swept down across the report Rude had handed him earlier. There was no chance some way ward monster had managed to get the best of the red-head. Everything swarming the area remained at levels that could only harm those not trained to properly defend themselves. Remains of buildings had been checked and re-checked and he although he hadn't yet set Rude to searching the Shinra building he knew they wouldn't find Reno pinned under any stray debris. It could be overconfidence but he just couldn't shake the conviction that something much worse took place.
Not only that but if his suspicions about the place being some sort of headquarters proved to be true┘ his blood ran cold at the thought. He could only hope they would keep Reno alive for information or even a hostage. That also meant that there wasn't any way he could send Rude to check to area himself. That meant he'd have to find some way to distract Rufus while Rude and himself checked the place over. Luckily Rufus had taken to brooding in his office for hours on end, refusing to be bothered short of anything urgent. This meant he could station Elena over the Lodge and take off to help find where his second in command had gotten off to.
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Meanwhile at the Northern Crater
A pale hand stretched out from the ruin of rocks covering the opening of a cave covered with rock dust and sprinkled with light scrapes and cuts. Seconds later the hand drew back and the light sound of faint bickering voices filled the air before the rocks covering the entrance burst forward with a loud bang! Startling all nearby wildlife deep into cover as dust rose up in the air and coughing ensued. "You didn't need to hit the things so hard." "They wouldn't move any other way." "But now it'll take us longer for you to recover that energy. " "We needed to stay a few days anyways Sephiroth, we both need to recover from being deceased. " "You've always had a way with words Angeal." "You sarcasm isn't appreciated." A low grunt as the shorter of the two sat, leaning against the cave wall with evident relief. Short yet long wisps of black hair covering part of a masculine face, eyes closed for all but two seconds before he looked up at the sky. 'I hope they know what they were doing'
So yes review, comment, stalk. Hope you've enjoyed this chapter; I swear the next chapter is about half done. Things should go much smoother now that I've got just about everything worked out on the plot. I have some pretty twisted plot chickens waiting to be implemented in the story