Tseng woke in a literal blind panic, his eyes covered with some material he couldn't and didn't care to name. He tried to reach his hands up to tear at the fabric-like covering, but they were held down by thick restraints that only made him struggle harder. His breaths began to shorten and soon he was hyperventilating as he screamed for Reno, confused and frightened. The last thing he could remember was being sprawled across Reno's lap, their lips tangling in a desperate and bloody kiss as Reno's dead parents lay on the kitchen floor. He got no answer to his desperate cries for Reno and he could hear the tight restraints straining and creaking as he thrashed wildly. His shoulders were pressed into the unnoticed mattress beneath him and he immediately stopped his thrashing, thinking that Reno had finally come to tell him what was going on. "Reno?"
"No." The voice was gruff and irritated, it grated on Tseng's hopeful ears and made him quail in fear. He tried to struggle against the hands that pressed him into the mattress but the fingers only tightened to a painful degree. "Breathe! You're not helping anyone when you're like this and I really don't want to sedate you again."
Tseng took a few shaky breaths, choking slightly on fear scented tears he didn't know he had cried. He relaxed slightly so that the hands wouldn't press him so hard, but it was only a slight release of tension. Tseng's body was rigid and quivering, fear and confusion pushing adrenalin through his body so fast he only got a taste of it before it flooded his straining muscles.
Once the man holding his shoulders down realized he was as relaxed as he could be he released him and took a step back, setting himself in the rickety chair next to his bed. He cleared his throat and began speaking, his voice still rough even though the irritation was gone. "Do you remember your name, or just Reno's?"
"Tseng. My name is Tseng." Tseng's voice cracked and broke as he spoke.
The man nodded even though Tseng couldn't see it. "Good. What do you remember last?"
Tseng felt his heart pound in his chest and he quickly edited his story, he didn't need this man knowing about the kiss. "Reno's dad killed his mom and tried to kidnap him, but we fought him." Tseng tried to open his eyes but the fabric bound them shut and he began to panic again. "Why can't I open my eyes! Did I go blind? What happened to my forehead, did they fix it? Where's Reno? He was hurt worse than me! Is he okay? Can I see him?"
A deep sigh reverberated throughout the room and Tseng's panic level increased. The sigh was a mournful one and immediately Tseng felt all his questions get answered in the negative. "Your eyes are shut because your head is bandaged, you're not blind. They stitched you up but you're going to have a scar. Reno is alright, his injuries were not as severe as you think. No, you can't see him. To answer questions you haven't asked yet; yes, you are a murderer. Reno's father is dead as is his mother and your fingerprints were found on the pan that took the life of Mr. Sinclair. You now have two options. You can be sent to jail and be put to death once you are at the age where the death penalty can be legally sentenced."
"What's the other option." Tseng frowned and would have been glaring at the man if he could open his eyes. Tseng didn't want to go to prison. Prison meant the inevitable death penalty and the death penalty meant never seeing Reno again. Any option that gave him even a glimmer of hope for seeing Reno again was an option he would jump at.
"You can work for the Shinra company as a Turk. You would be paid to kill, torture, and obey orders without question. You will go through intense and life-threatening training, but if you survive you will have a job for the rest of your life. We've already talked to your parents and they signed you over to us with a little convincing and some bribery. Even if you don't choose to work for Shinra, you belong to Shinra."
"Will I get to see Reno again if I work for you?" Tseng's voice was tentative, but the fear and confusion was gone from it.
The man gave a quiet nod. "Eventually. He will not be told where you are going and he will not be offered the same deal."
"What's going to happen to him then?" Tseng wished he could see the face of the man who he was selling his life to.
"He's going to a foster home." Tseng growled his disproval and the man continued. "He'll be provided for, don't worry. If he goes to a Shinra run foster home he'll be easier for us to keep tabs on."
"Why do you need tabs on him?" Tseng asked evenly.
"So that we can use him as leverage against you if anything goes sour between you and the company. We always have leverage Tseng." Tseng could almost hear the man's smug smirk.
Tseng needed no further prodding. "Fine, I'll do it."
A heavy hand clapped on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring squeeze. "Smart choice. Once you're stable you'll be transfered to the Shinra hospital." Tseng nodded and felt his heart sink and heavy footsteps reverberated in his ears as they marched away.
Reno nearly launched himself from the bed once he woke up, but a pair of handcuffs kept him down. He gave the metal restraint a few testing tugs before sighing in defeat. He slumped back down on the bed and began jamming his finger on the nurse call button, eager to annoy the people who kept sedating him to keep him from running to Tseng. Soon enough a nurse appeared and he prepared to harass her but she simply disconnected the button he was delightedly pressing and walked away, her painted lips parted in a comical frown. Reno pouted, the motion making his painless face throb strangely. He pressed a questioning fingertip below his eye and felt a row of small uniform stitches pulsing with unfelt pain. Reno shrugged and continued to yank on his handcuff, desperately thinking of ways to undo the cumbersome restraint. He knew the doctors and nurses didn't want him moving as they were sure he would bolt from the room and try to find Tseng again. Reno's face pulsed again but he didn't feel anything but a twitch-like pulse under his eyes. He felt fine, but that was probably because of the copious amounts of painkillers they had flooded into his system.
Reno grinned as he thought up a solution to his problem, reaching up to the I-V drip above him and removing the bag. He sat up as best as he could and snapped off the metal prong his drip had been hanging from. Reno took the thin strip of metal and jammed it into the lock, twisting and maneuvering it experimentally. His tongue stuck out between his teeth as he listened intently for the lock to click open. The door burst open and he jumped guiltily before poorly hiding the make-shift lock-pick beneath his pillow. He saluted with his free hand and slumped back into the bed. "Howdy stranger. Where the hell is Tseng?"
A suited man walked up to his bedside and smirked as he reached beneath Reno's pillow and pulled out the abused looking metal strip. "Are you trying to escape?"
"Damn straight I am. I wanna see Tseng, where the hell is he?" Reno frowned and sullenly crossed one arm over his chest as the other one was stuck fast to the side of the bed.
"Tseng is a murderer and will be treated as such." The man's voice was cold and devoid of emotion, something that irked Reno to no end.
Reno snarled angrily. "Shut the hell up ya stupid bastard! Ya don't know what yer talkin' about Tseng ain't a murderer he killed my bastard of a father in self-defense! Didn't ya see the chunk outta his forehead?" Reno's Junon accent was coming through heavily in his rage and he gestured to his throbbing cheeks. "Dontcha see these? It was that sick bastard that put 'em there!" The man put a hand up to try and stop Reno's angry yelling but Reno talked over him. "You better not hurt 'im or I swear I'll pound yer ass so bad you'll be bleedin' fer a week! If you lay one hand on 'im I'll bite it off!"
"Shush!" Reno fell into a disgruntled silence at the man's yell. "Tseng will come to no harm if you behave yourself. As of right now Tseng is Shinra property and what they do to him is up to them. If you do anything you'll just make things worse for him."
Reno's anger welled up again and he shouted. "Shinra took 'im? Why the fuck does Shinra want 'im?"
"It's not my place to say." The man frowned at Reno as his patience strained. "You will be sent to a foster home after you've healed and Tseng is going to Shinra."
Reno's eyes narrowed and he was practically frothing at the mouth as he snarled viciously. "Ya didn't answer my question ya asshole! Why does Shinra want Tseng?"
The man threw the metal strip back onto the bed and turned on his heel. "Get some rest and stay in your bed. You don't want to know what the next step is after handcuffs."
Reno bellowed angrily at the retreating back as he jerked on the cuff, the metal cutting into his wrist until it bled as he strained to attack the man. "Get back here asswipe I'm not done with you! Hey! I'm talkin'! Where's Tseng! I WANT TO SEE TSENG!"
A slew of nurses rushed into the room and tried to hold him down, but now he was armed and he stabbed at them with his lock-pick turned shank. A few nurses received large gashes in various places from the jagged edges of the metal strip and they only increased his angry attempts to harm them when they tried to pry it from his hands. Soon enough a doctor ran into the room with a syringe full of clear fluid, the sight of the needle making Reno thrash harder. Five nurses held his arms to his side as the sedative was stabbed into his arm, the clear fluid moving into his veins and making him sluggish quickly. He still tried to struggle, but his arms felt like lead weights and they dropped to his sides, wrists held up off the bed by the handcuffs. A nurse pulled the metal shank out of his hand and rehung his I-V drip, moving the stand far out of his reach. Reno was barely able to keep his eyes open as his free hand was cuffed onto the bed and he felt a few tears leak out of his eyes as he continued to beg for Tseng. "Please just let me see him! I want to see Tseng! Please! He's all I've got left! Please!" A few nurses cast him pitiful glances as they walked out of the room, some of them cradling bleeding limbs. Reno slumped back against the pillows as the drug coursed through his system and ate at his consciousness. A few more tears leaked down to tangle in his stitches and he sobbed quietly as lead filled eyes closed.
Author's Note: Poor Reno. Poor Tseng. Much sadness!
Anywho, there's more dialogue in this one but the next chapter should be quieter again.
Also, I have a poll up on my profile to decide between 2 characters for a fic, please vote!