Author's Note: I apologize for taking so long to update! I got really busy and then had bad writers block! I eventually forced myself to write, but I'm not very happy with this chapter. Hopefully you guys will think differently! Luckily, through a remarkable turn of events, I may be able to post another chapter this weekend!! Keep an eye out for it!
Elena sighed dejectedly as she brushed her bright blonde hair. She felt weary, even though she'd just woken up about thirty minutes ago. It had been several weeks since her break-up with Reno, and her life was not going well, to put it gently. Her feelings were all in turmoil, although she'd quit crying after week one. She still felt confused about her decision, and the guilty feeling remained, although she constantly tried to rid herself of that particular burden. There's nothing to be guilty about, Elena! She mentally spoke to herself sternly. People break up all the time for no reason! And you actually have a reason! True, her reason was mainly what she felt guilty about. Was it right to leave Reno just because she feared he would leave her at some point in the future? She'd tried for weeks to answer that question, to gain some peace of mind, all to no avail.
Elena had given up trying to answer the question, and was now simply trying to go on with her life normally. With so much confusion inside, it was hard to maintain a cool and collected exterior, especially when the only people around you knew you so well! Elena feared the other Turks would grow see through her nonchalant charade to the confused girl on the inside. And if they believed her act, than she feared they would grow to see her as a heartless bitch after the past few weeks. While Elena pretended everything was perfectly fine, Reno still gave the impression that everyone he had known in the world had died miserable deaths. It wasn't so much in the things he said, since he hardly spoke at all anymore, but in the observations they made. Reno asked her why she'd left everything single day without fail, but she never could bring herself to tell him. Her reason had felt flimsy enough at the time, but as the amount of misery he went through every day piled up, she began to worry he would be angry at her lame excuse.
Of all the things that were working together to make her life unhappy, knowing that Reno believed her act was the worst. He honestly believed she didn't care. She did, Elena cared very much that she was hurting him. She could see it in his eyes every time she actually was able to see his eyes now since he kept them covered with those dark goggles of his most of the time to attempt and hide the dark rings from lack of sleep. Probably to dim the light too. That was another thing. Reno was back to drinking every night. He came in late everyday, hung-over and depressed. Strangely enough, his work performance was not suffering. It was almost improving. Of course, he still never did his paperwork, but he was more efficient and ruthless on their missions than he had been for awhile. Everyone had noticed, but no one had said anything since there didn't seem to be much to say. It was surprising definitely, a little confusing, and it worried Elena slightly since Reno was taking many more risks with his life to achieve these results.
In short, work was hell. When Elena walked into the building, she tried to just keep her head down and get to the elevator as quickly as possible. However, her attempts at avoiding the impending awkwardness were futile. The several gossiping secretaries at the front desk stared at her with wide, heavily made-up eyes. No news took long to spread in the Shinra building, especially news as sensational as a girl breaking up with Reno. It was unheard of, and frankly a relief to the secretary world. Elena had noticed them once again making their lame excuses to come by the Turks' offices as often as possible. They'd stopped doing that after Reno and Elena had dated for several months. Apparently it didn't take long for them to get back into their habit of hanging around Reno.
Elena plopped down at her desk for another day that would probably be just like the one before, and the one before that, and so on. Tseng and Rude both greeted her, and she smiled and greeted them back as usual, appearing perfectly pleased with the world. Reno showed up eventually, and hour and a half late, and paused in Elena's doorway, hands shoved deep in his pockets and his shoulders slumped wearily. He was even more of a mess than normal, and his dark goggles hid his aquamarine eyes from view. Elena was thankful for this fact, since she really couldn't handle the agonized, hurt look they would have had.
"Why?" Reno asked, his voice sounding dead. He's down to just one word now…Elena noted, rubbing her temples and looking up at the man, carefully keeping her gentler emotions out of her face and eyes.
"Not now, Reno," Elena spoke in an irritated voice, involuntarily taking her frustration with the answer to that question out on Reno. She knew she shouldn't get mad at him because of her own issue, but she couldn't help it. Reno didn't say another word, but turned and trudged off to his office where he'd probably pour himself a drink of whatever liquor he happened to have in his desk at the moment and smoke a pack of cigarettes, surrounding himself in a thick haze of smoke. Yes, the day was turning out exactly like she had expected. That is, until she went to the Shinra cafeteria a few floors down for lunch that day. There something happened that promised to make this day very different…
"He's not handling this very well, is he?" Rude spoke to Tseng as he watched Reno walk past in the hallway. Tseng didn't even look up from the paperwork he was signing for the bald man.
"No, Reno has never handled depression well," Tseng replied, "He's too easily seduced by his darker tendencies." Tseng looked thoughtfully into the distance with a frown. "His weakness for vice shall really be the death of him someday." The man spoke gloomily. "I hate to sound so insensitive, but Reno needs to get over it. Elena has."
Rude remained silent. He normally didn't speak unless he really had something to say. And what was there to say? Tseng had said it all. As Rude walked back to his office with his paperwork, he wondered about Elena. She had seemed very upset the few days after their break-up, but she recovered quickly, and now she appeared to have completely moved past the whole event. It was surprising coming from the usually quite emotional girl. Whenever he saw either of them, Rude wondered with much confusion about what had gone wrong. The two had seemed perfect for each other. They were such a happy couple for so long. Reno still loved her desperately, that much Rude knew.
Later that day, Tseng called all three Turks to his office. It was a very awkward gathering.
"I have a couple of missions for you," the man spoke briskly, wanting to get the awkwardness out of his office as quickly as possible. He continued speaking as he handing a folder to Rude and one to Reno. "Elena and Rude, you shall tend to this one, and Reno can do this one." Rude opened his file, and Elena leaned over to read it.
"But Tseng, sir," she spoke up quickly, and anxiously, "This is tonight."
"Yes?" the Turk-leader inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"I, uh, have…something tonight that I have to do. Can it wait?"
"Well, not really," Tseng leaned back in his chair, "But it's not difficult or very risky. I suppose Rude could go by himself. Is that alright with you, Rude?" The bald man nodded his acquiescence.
"Thank you," Elena looked relieved, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, sir."
"It's quite alright, Elena," Tseng looked at the others, "Any more problems?" Rude shook his head, and Reno didn't say anything. "Ok, then you are all dismissed. Reno and Rude, you can start your missions now. Elena, you may as well go ahead and go home. It's only an hour or so until quitting time anyway."
"Thank you, sir!" Elena dashed off, suddenly in a hurry. They were all a bit surprised and confused by Elena's strange behavior, but didn't acknowledge it with more than a brief, slightly awkward pause before Rude and Reno left to perform their missions.
Elena slipped her black high-heeled shoes off, carefully placing them exactly where they belonged in her closet. She glanced at the clock curiously as she slid out of her shimmering black dress. Wow. She hadn't realized she'd been out that late. She frowned slightly at herself in the mirror, absentmindedly taking much longer than necessary to brush her teeth as she tried to decipher this new wave of confusing emotions. She had that giddy, almost adrenaline rush type feeling that comes from doing something you know would displease others, while you still have every right to do it. And her recent activity would definitely not make Reno happy.
Elena had gone on a date. She had met him in the Shinra cafeteria, which was probably better defined as a four-star restaurant. Shinra did all it could to keep it's employees happy, and not causing trouble. The convenience of eating even more than one meal a day there was irresistible to many Shinra employees, including the second class SOLDIER, Nick. She hadn't even noticed him, or anyone else around her for that matter, until he spoke. He'd recognized her as a Turk, and made the obvious connection that she was Elena, the only female Turk. Although Elena had been slightly less than encouraging, the man had eaten lunch with her, keeping up interesting and entertaining conversation the whole time. Not surprisingly, he'd heard about her break-up with Reno. Once the other man had brought it up, Elena found herself, almost against her will, blabbering on about the whole situation. It was comforting to talk to someone about it who didn't know Reno, and who was as understanding and sympathetic as Nick. Before long, Elena had found herself agreeing to go on a date with the same man that evening.
Crawling under the warm and inviting blankets, dressed in a baggy t-shirt, Elena sighed into her soft pillow in frustration. I didn't even know this many different emotions could all get mixed up at once! How the hell am I supposed to tell one from the other? Rolling over onto her back roughly, Elena glared at the ceiling. She knew Reno would have been even more upset if he knew. It made her uneasy. She would do her best to keep it a secret, but this kind of thing inevitably came back to bite you. Even with such uncomfortable feelings regarding her date, Elena didn't regret it. She had enjoyed the evening, specifically the further opportunity to talk about the things bothering her to someone who listened and always agreed with her. In that regard, Nick was perfect. He wasn't bad looking either. Probably not quite as tall as Reno, chocolate brown hair, hazel eyes, and with a definitely more bulky build than Reno. Nick was smaller than Rude, but had more obvious muscle than Reno's leaner form. She hated constantly comparing him to Reno, but it was unavoidable. She desperately wanted to keep Reno out of this in her mind, mostly to help convince herself that this had nothing to do with her confusing and anger-producing feelings centered around the red-head. She tried to ignore it, but a tiny voice in the back of Elena's head whispered that she was only spending time with Nick to distract herself from her problems. That's not why! Elena mentally argued with herself. I have plenty of perfectly normal reasons to like him. He's handsome, funny, nice, and understanding. Why wouldn't I like him? Once Elena had concluded that there was no reason for her to not like Nick, she was able to safely quiet that obnoxious whisper of doubt. I'm going to date Nick because I like his company and there's no reason why I shouldn't! Putting an end to any further mental debate on the issue, Elena attempted to rid herself of a pounding headache and get to sleep. She contemplated coming up with a story for why she'd wanted to leave, but then tossed it aside, assuring herself that no one would ask. Tension was running too high between them all for anyone to start any unnecessary conversations.
Maybe Elena had been right that no one would conversationally bring up her asking to leave early the day before, but she would never have the opportunity to test the theory. As soon as she walked into her office through the already open door, she knew all attempt at covering up last night was worthless. The three other Turks stood gathered around her desk, on which stood a huge and beautiful bouquet of flowers. A ribbon tied around the stems held a note, the contents of which Elena couldn't doubt were incriminating.
"There was a delivery this morning," Tseng announced needlessly.
"Who the hell is Nick?" Reno demanded, his voice sounding less angry then she had suspected. Then again, Reno hadn't been himself lately and it had become normal for every word out of his mouth to be either dull and lifeless or tainted with heartache.
"Is this why you left last night?" Rude chimed in. Elena took a deep breathe, squeezing her eyes shut and hoping it would all disappear and she would find herself alone and back in bed waking up from a horrible nightmare. She peeked an eye open. Nope, still there. Elena did the only thing she could. She glared at them all and crossed her arms across her chest.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize I had to report every detail of my personal life to all of you!" Elena strode forward, ripping the note from the flower arrangement and clutching it in her fist. Who knows what it said, and she certainly didn't want them reading it, assuming they hadn't already!
"We're just asking innocent questions, Elena," Tseng stated gently, although the crease in his forehead showed that he was much more interested in the situation than his words betrayed.
"Well if you must know, I met a guy and went on a date with him last night and he was charming enough to send me flowers. He's with SOLDIER," she spoke as coldly as she dared, hoping to stave off any further questions. Reno abruptly shoved off from the wall he'd been leaning against and left the room.
"Shit," Rude muttered under his breath and quickly went off after the redhead. Tseng watched them both go in dismay.
"Elena…" he turned to look back at her slowly, a concerned and helpless look on his face. His sentence went nowhere, as he sighed and left the room, leaving the girl alone with her contrastingly bright and cheery flowers. She stared in frustration at the empty doorway for a moment before remembering the note in her hand. It was simple, yet sweet, telling her how much he'd enjoyed the evening and that he hoped to see her again soon.
Elena sighed and crumpled the note, resting her cheek on her hand. What a mess… It didn't take long for her stubborn side to kick in and resent her friends for questioning her. I can do whatever I want! Almost as if to prove it, Elena briskly pulled out her phone and called Nick, determined to set up another date and further demonstrate how they had no control over what she did.
"Reno, there is literally a cloud of smoke in here," Rude stated when he walked into the other man's office, after having courteously giving him a few minutes to collect himself.
"And?" Reno looked up at the other man, a cigarette hanging from his lips.
"They're bad for your lungs," Rude plopped down in a chair, slowly glancing over the mess of a desk. The poor object was littered with long-neglected paperwork covered by half-smoked cigarettes and ashes. Apparently Reno saw no point in obtaining an ash-tray. The spots that used to be filled with cups of cold, who-knows-how-old coffee were now filled by empty shot glasses.
"You know that's not allowed at work," Rude commented, not needing to tell Reno that he was referring to the alcohol.
"Go tell Rufus to fire me then," the redhead answered, bitterly tossing the cigarette to the floor and turning to stare blankly out the window. Rude sighed. Reno knew the rules, and also knew what he could get away with and what he couldn't. There was no way Rufus would fire Reno without an exceptional reason. "What did ya want?"
That was a question Rude couldn't really answer. He'd followed Reno to make sure the redhead was ok, which he obviously wasn't. He hadn't been ok since Elena had left, and he was only getting worse. There was nothing Rude could do or say to make Reno feel better. Reno waited only a few seconds for an answer before getting up and heading for the door.
"Where are you going?" Rude asked, his frown deepening.
"To find out who Nick is," Reno spat the name out angrily, as he jerked the door open.
"Reno, killing people is not going to help."
"Didn't say I was gonna kill him."
Rude followed Reno down the hall, knowing this was a bad idea, and powerless to stop the redhead.
"Just don't do anything stupid," Rude warned, letting Reno go.
Reno's forehead rested on his arm while his other hand clutched the half-empty glass containing some beverage or other, he wasn't sure exactly what, he just knew that it was filled with that precious substance: alcohol. He sat at the corner of the bar and hadn't moved for quite some time. Tifa watched him from a few feet away with concern as she wiped off counter tops. It was unbelievably late, and most customers had left, except for those especially drunk who would soon be collected by friends, or kicked out by Cloud.
"Can I kick him out yet?" Cloud asked, waiting eagerly next to the girl.
"No, you can't!" Tifa looked at the blonde-haired man warningly. "Something has really got to be wrong. He's been in here almost every night for weeks now." She shoved her rag into Cloud's hands, "Here, you clean the counter. I'm going to talk to him." She left a disgruntled Cloud and walked over to where Reno sat. "Reno, are you alright?" The redhead didn't respond at first, but when she repeated his name, he lifted his head.
"Nick's a bastard," Reno's words were slurred and he could barely focus his eyes. Tifa was surprised. It took a hell of a lot to get Reno that drunk, and she certainly had not given him that much. He must have been drinking somewhere else before he came here…
"Who's Nick?" she asked, looking at Cloud who was watching interestedly. The man shrugged and moved closer, waiting to hear Reno's answer.
"He's a bastard," Reno mumbled angrily, his face flushed, "A lyin' man whore bastard!" His words trailed off into muttered obscenities as he slumped against the counter once more.
"Well he really hates this guy," Cloud commented, completely abandoning trying to look like he was cleaning the counters for Tifa, and coming to stand next to her. Tifa's eyebrows were raised.
"Apparently. I think he's had enough…" she reached forward to take the glass out of his hand but Reno grabbed her wrist. It took more than complete drunkenness to stop his quick reflexes, although they were considerably slower. Cloud almost attacked Reno for it, but Tifa stopped him, extricating her hand from the redhead's grasp.
"That's it, I'm calling Rude," Tifa announced.
"You have Rude's number?" Cloud looked alarmed and horrified, turning to look at Tifa.
"No, dummy," Tifa smacked Cloud on the side of the head lightly, "Reno does. All you have to do is go through his pockets until you find his cell without him reacting."
"Like this?" Yuffie popped up from the other side of the bar, next to Reno. She waved a cell phone playfully in her hand.
"Just like that," Tifa snatched the phone from the young ninja's thieving fingers and began to go through the contact list.
"What are you still doing up?" Cloud teased, "Shouldn't you be in bed?"
"Oh, shut up!" Yuffie spat her tongue out at him, "I'm not that much younger than you! Anyway, I'm staying up all night in case Vincent comes by!"
"Yeah, Vincent's not a pedophile," Cloud threw his arms up to protect his face as Yuffie flew at him from over the counter.
"Got it!" Tifa exclaimed, dialing Rude's number.
"Hello?" Rude answered sleepily. Tifa practically had to yell to be heard over the noise of Cloud and Yuffie's fight.
"Hey, this is Tifa."
"…Why do you have Reno's phone?" Rude sounded considerably cheerier to hear her voice.
"Because Reno's here in Seventh Heaven and he is completely smashed," Tifa shouted.
"Damn. I'll be there as soon as I can," Rude sighed and hung up.
"Break it up!" Tifa turned to the two AVALANCHE members who were attacking each other. Yuffie was laying across the counter, her hands clenched tightly around Cloud's throat while he tried to twist out of her determined grasp. Reno remained oblivious to them all.
"Rude's coming to take you home," Tifa laid a hand on Reno's arm sympathetically. She still didn't know what the matter was, but she couldn't help but feel sorry for the man.
Reno heard her words, but only vaguely comprehended the meaning. He was so drunk he was on the verge of passing out. What angered him was that it wasn't working anymore. At first, after Elena had broken up with him, he'd been able to drown the emotional pain and block out his thoughts with alcohol, but here he was, barely able to register what was going on around him and yet he still felt the dull ache in his chest and the dark thoughts still swirled stormily in his mind. He was bothered especially by what he'd learned earlier that day.
Reno had intended to harass members of SOLDIER until he found out all he needed to know about Nick. He hadn't made it very far before being accosted by one of the numerous Shinra secretaries. This particular young woman must have been particularly ditzy, because for some reason she thought it was a good idea to start a conversation with him about his break up, which eventually led to Elena's new boyfriend. Reno had not been surprised that she knew about it. The Shinra secretaries knew all the gossip the building had to offer, and they wasted no time in spreading it. Reno had been surprised by what he had learned about Nick. Reno lifted his head up to stare at the glass in his hand sadly. He felt literally sickened by his new knowledge.
Nick was a player. According to the secretary, he operated by sweet-talking his way right into a woman's pants, and then ditching her ruthlessly. The woman had said that she herself had told Nick about Reno and Elena's break up, and that the very next day they'd gone on a date. Reno had thought he would be ill when he heard Elena was dating somebody else, but knowing that her new boyfriend would just use her and then dump her made him want to die. Elena seems to really like that guy…she'd be devastated. I can't let that happen. But how do I tell her? She won't believe me. She'll think I'm just making it up to get her to leave him.
Reno let go of the glass he'd been clenching tightly and wrapped his arms around his head with a groan. Why was it that nobody tried to kill him when he actually wanted to die, or at least black out for a very long time?
"Damn, Tifa, how much did you let him have?" Rude showed up to collect Reno, still wearing sunglasses although it was roughly three in the morning.
"He must have been pretty far gone when he got here, because I didn't give him that much," Tifa defended, "What's up with him anyway? He's been drinking his heart out in here everyday for weeks now."
"That's exactly what he's doing," Rude replied, looking down at the lanky redhead, "Elena broke up with him awhile ago, and he's not taking it well. She hasn't told anybody why, and Reno has no idea why either."
"Wow, Turkey must really be upset!" Yuffie exclaimed sorrowfully. Even Cloud looked a bit sympathetic. Rude shrugged.
"He loves her," was the man's only explanation. He then spoke louder, putting a hand on Reno's shoulder. "Yo, you need some sleep, man." Reno mumbled something inaudible, but allowed himself to be guided away by Rude.
"Thanks, Tifa," Rude called over his shoulder, doing his best to keep the redhead on his feet and not stumbling into anything.
Author's Note: Oh, while I'm at it, anyone know any good Reno fan art pics? Feel free to post me a link in a review! xD Thanks for reading and again, I'm sorry for taking so long in updating!
