Laptop died. Lost all of my stories and college work. Pissed me off -.- That's all I'm gonna say about that at the moment, to be honest...
Enjoy!
1wildrose1 .. x
Rating: NC-17
Pairing (s): Cloud/Reno, Zack/Cloud, eventual Zack/Reno and Zack/Reno/Cloud
Disclaimer: I don't own the Final Fantasy franchise or any of the characters.
Summary: We all knew that one day it would get to him – he'd been through too much for it not to. But this? Cloud needs help, and there's only one person I can think of that can get through to him – I'll save you, Cloud, even if it means raising the dead. Yaoi
Warnings: Shounen-ai (Male/male relationships), Yaoi (Male/male sexual relationships – though there will be forewarning of the chapters that contain the explicit stuff) and mentions of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
Cloud and Reno are quite out of character in this chapter but I hope that it makes sense in context. Maybe...
Chapter Two
"Come, Reno – let us make our presence known."
The redhead nodded and quickly got out of the car, opening the door for his boss before locking up. The two of them entered the building together and Reno knocked on the door next to the bar, glancing at Rufus silently as they waited for an answer. The president looked calm and casual to the untrained eye, but Reno, who had been his employee and friend – in that order – for nearly eleven years now, could see the tension in his stance. He knew better than to bring attention to that fact, however.
Rufus glanced coolly at the redhead, studying him with frozen grey eyes. "You are quiet today, Reno."
He nodded in agreement and shrugged. "Not much to say, yo."
The steely eyes thawed a little and looked back at the door. "Indeed."
A few moments later, the form of Reeve Tuesti appeared before them as he opened the door. The man was smiling at them, but it was strained and weary, making it evident that there was something terribly troubling looming over the house. "President Shinra, Reno – it's good to see you."
Rufus nodded briskly, remaining politely silent, and Reno offered a half-hearted smirk. "You too, man."
The engineer stood back a little, gesturing at them to venture into the bowels of the house. "Don't just stand in the doorway – do come in."
Reno led the way through the narrow corridor, ascending the stairs and following the loudest cluster of voices into the kitchen. Vincent, Yuffie, Cid and Barret were gathered around the small wooden dining table and had been eating their meals before the Turk entered. Now, they were twisted in their chairs to look at him, their conversation having come to an abrupt halt.
"Yo." Reno gave a cocky two-fingered salute in greeting, not expecting a response – out of all of Cloud's friends, Yuffie, Cid and Barret still held the most hostility towards him for his continued association with Shinra. Vincent was just not a talker. "Where's Blondie?"
Yuffie puffed up her small frame and started to make a haughty comment, but was cut off by Vincent's calm voice. "He is in the living room." Only offering minimal information – the ex-Turk hadn't changed.
"Vincent!" Yuffie scowled and crossed her arms. "What did'ya go and tell him that for?"
The man raised his eyebrow at her. "He came to see him. Where else would he be?"
"Now, now, children." Reeve brushed past Reno to get into the room, taking his seat at the table. "Try not to fight at the table – it will ruin your appetite." Barret scoffed, but shook his head and turned his attention back to his food, proceeding to shovel it down his throat with aggressive vigour. Reeve rolled his eyes and looked back at Reno. "Go on through." Reno rose a brow, glancing over his shoulder and back meaningfully. Reeve shrugged, catching the unspoken question about Rufus. "If Tifa lets him in the room, then he's allowed."
XxXxXxXxXxX
Tifa watched her friend eat his meal from her perch on the sofa opposite the one he was sitting on, absently nibbling on pieces of lettuce as she did so. She had purposely made food that he could eat with his hands so that she wouldn't have to demean him further by feeding him like a child. Her eyes followed the path of the fingers of his left hand as they slowly searched the plate and grasped a French fry, bringing it up to his mouth. He missed once, poking himself in the chin, before reaching his target and beginning the journey again.
Cloud frowned and turned his head searchingly. "It's gone quiet."
Tifa paused and strained to listen. Sure enough, the chatter in the kitchen had quietened. "You're right. I'll check it out." The brunette placed her plate on the coffee table and walked to the door. She was greeted by a raised fist when she opened it, poised to knock, attached to the arm of a familiar man. "Reno." She smiled warily, trying to be welcoming – for Cloud's sake at least. "Sorry, I forgot you were coming."
"That's fine, doll." Reno grinned at her and stepped into the room, pausing briefly. "Uh, you did know that I've brought President Shinra, right?"
Tifa wrinkled her nose in distaste, but otherwise showed no signs of surprise. "Yes, I did." She turned to look at Cloud, who was looking towards them with interest. Reno noted the slight glazed look in his vivid blue eyes with concern, but could see no other sign of ill-health. "Cloud? Are you okay with Mr. Shinra coming in?"
His face tensed slightly as he rolled one shoulder back in a half-shrug. "Yeah..."
Reno grinned at him and strolled further into the room, flopping down onto the sofa that Tifa had just vacated. He listened to Rufus' even footsteps as he followed and perched demurely next to his employee.
"I'll be in the kitchen, Cloud." Tifa's voice held the promise that she would be in there like a shot if Rufus tried anything.
The fighter nodded and gripped onto his plate, fixing his blank stare on his knees. Reno waited until the door was shut before he said anything, wary of Tifa's overprotective nature. "So, what's all this about you being ill, Blondie? You look fine to me, yo."
Cloud's lips twitched a little as he glanced up at the redhead. Only...his eyes were still glazed and were looking slightly to the left of where Reno's face was. "Um..." He didn't really know how to say it – especially in front of Rufus Shinra. Being in the state he was in, he couldn't see how the two of them would react to the news. For all he knew, the man would take advantage of his weakness – though how or why he would do that eluded even Cloud's reasoning, but he was still fairly skittish around him.
Reno's stomach felt like lead as it slowly began to dawn on him what was wrong, adding to the cottony feeling that his mouth had been sporting since he heard the news. Ordinarily, Cloud would be able to pick up on his emotions by just looking at his expression – a feat that few could claim to be able to do – but the man was just sitting there awkwardly, as though he was unsure of himself. He mentally shook himself, trying to convince himself that it was the presence of his boss that had him nervous. "Don't worry, man – Rufus isn't here as an enemy."
He looked at his boss briefly, hoping that he would understand the use of his first name was just to make Strife feel a bit more comfortable. "Then why is he here?" Cloud's eyebrows drew together, feeling a little odd talking about the man as though he wasn't in the room.
Rufus roved his eyes lazily towards the other blond, expecting him to ask such a question. "I don't suppose that you would believe that I was concerned." Cloud's head moved in a minute tilt as his lips twisted into a frown, proving his statement correct. "I was curious. My employee was distracted from his work and I wanted to know why. When I found out that you were in trouble, I offered to join him in his visit – I do owe you a lot for what my company has done to you."
Cloud's eyes widened a little in surprise as his mouth worked to form a response. "Uh...okay. Thank you?"
One thin brow rose on Rufus' stoic visage. "For what?"
Reno shook his head and cut in, not allowing Cloud to dwell on answering his boss' question because he knew that the blond was about two minutes away from breaking out into full brooding mode. "Anyway, man, what's wrong?" Blue eyes moved to look in his general direction, but, again, they did not focus or look in the right place. The blood pounded in Reno's ears as he put the pieces together for himself – it was clear that Cloud was reluctant to tell him by the way he drew his bottom lip between his teeth to bite on nervously.
Tifa leading him from the car; the glazed look in his eyes; the way he never looked directly at the person he was talking to; even how he still clutched onto his half-filled dinner plate instead of putting it onto the table in front of him. It all added up in the eyes of a man who was paid to see the details. "It's your eyes, isn't it?"
Beside him, a soft breath was sucked in quickly in surprise, but that was the only response from the President as Cloud nodded slowly. Reno cleared his throat quickly as he felt something akin to a stone settle there at the conformation, trying to keep his composure as the news made him a lot more upset than he was comfortable with feeling. Cloud was his friend, yes, but it shouldn't hit him this hard – right, and you didn't come running as soon as you heard something was wrong? Man up, Reno – you like him more than you think you do.
"What–" He stopped himself, clutching his knees tightly to prevent Rufus from seeing them shake in response to the poisonous feeling roiling in his gut. "How? How did this happen, yo?"
Cloud shook his head, releasing his lip from between his teeth. "I don't know exactly. I just woke up this morning not being able to see or hear anything – I thought that I had a pillow over my face or something, but..." He tapped his fingers along the edge of the dinner plate, frowning at the sudden wave of paranoia that swept over him. "My hearing is pretty much back to normal now, but I'm still...blind. I guess."
Telling Reno felt different than telling anyone else. It was easy for Cloud to pretend that Rufus wasn't in the room due to his silence, so it felt more intimate – more ground breaking, somehow. Like the conversation they were having right now could entirely change the course of their relationship, for better or worse. He really hoped that it wasn't for the worse. Really hoped. Otherwise, everything that he and Reno had managed to form between them over the last three years – after all, he couldn't be the only one feeling it, right? – would be destroyed.
"Blind. Wow." Reno blinked and furrowed his eyebrows, not feeling right about describing Cloud in such a way. It sounded too permanent. "What are they going to do?"
"There's not anything that they can do, really – it's not physiological. Apparently I might get better if I see a shrink, but I don't think that will help." Cloud shook his head and reached forward gingerly, his outstretched fingers searching the air briefly before finding the coffee table. "Let's just...not talk about it now." He went to push his dinner plate onto the table he had located but misjudged the distance and ended up letting go before it was fully on the table. The plate hit the floor and sprayed shards of broken plate and food in every direction.
Cloud froze, staring down with his hands hovering where they were, unsure of what to do – he was sure he would only end up making it worse if he tried to clean it up, but he could hardly just leave it there. Just as he began the reach down, someone's hands brushed his own out the way. "I'll do it, you clutz." Reno's voice murmured.
"Um..." Cloud clenched his fists and tensed his jaw, feeling an irrationally upset over the incident. His eyes burned as he fought back the sudden urge to cry. "T-thanks." Wow...it really had just hit him. He was blind. Blind. All of this time, it hadn't felt real to him – like it was just a little thing that would go away on its own. But there was no guarantee that he would ever see again. This was going to happen all of the time; someone would always need to be there to help him live a normal life. For Gaia's sake, he couldn't even clean up a broken plate by himself!
Suddenly, Cloud began to wish that he was alone in the room – he hated the idea of Rufus seeing the solitary tear roll down his cheek. The sound of broken pottery scraping together stopped and two hands found their way onto his knees. "Cloud?"
"I'm sorry..." The blond quickly wiped away the tear, but another replaced it, quickly followed by more; soon enough, he couldn't stop the flood as they flowed uncontrollably. The door to the room clicked open and shut quietly before arms wrapped themselves around his neck, holding him securely. "R-Reno?"
"Shhh." The redhead hushed, remembering a time when their roles had been reversed – when it was he that had found comfort in the most unlikely person. "It's just the two of us now."
Nodding, the blond gave in and clutched the smaller man to himself as he just sobbed, letting the harsh reality sink in.
He was blind.
Short again, but I've resigned myself to the fact that I can't write long chapters. Quality over quantity (I hope!)
I don't know about anyone else, but I cry when I'm stressed – hence why Cloud cries. Makes sense to me. Hope you liked it .. x
P.S. I've gone through the official Final Fantasy time-line and worked out the actual ages of the characters in this story because it annoys me when people make up their ages to fit their story. This is a basic time-line of events, just to put the story into context:
εуλ 1950 – Vincent is born (making him 61 in this story.)
εуλ 1959 – Nanaki is born (making him 52 in this story.)
εуλ 1968 – Cid is born (making him 43.)
εуλ 1872 – Reeve is born (making him 39.)
εуλ 1977 – Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal are born.
εуλ 1978 – Rude is born (making him 33.)
εуλ 1982 – Reno and Rufus are born (making them 29.)
εуλ 1984 – Zack is born (making him 27.)
εуλ 1985 – Aerith is born.
εуλ 1986 – Cloud is born (making him 25.)
εуλ 1987 – Tifa is born (making her 24.)
εуλ 1991 – Yuffie is born (making her 20.)
εуλ 1997 – Zack joins Shinra (he is 13 at the time.)
εуλ 1999 – Denzel is born (making him 12.)
εуλ 2000 – Cloud joins Shinra (he is 14 at the time.)
εуλ 0002 (October) – Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim and Cloud kills him.
εуλ 0003 – Marlene is born (making her 8.)
εуλ 0006 (December) – Zack and Cloud escape the Shinra Mansion.
εуλ 0007 (Late September) Zack is killed.
εуλ 0007 (October) – Tifa finds Cloud wandering around Midgar and takes him in.
εуλ 0007 (December) – Events of Final Fantasy VII take place.
εуλ 0009 – Events of Advent Children take place.
εуλ 0010 – Events of Dirge of Cerberus take place.
εуλ 0011 – Events of this story begin.
Feel free to use this for stories you want to write (apart from the last event of course.)