On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me, seven swans a swimming.
Reno looked up from the cookies he had been decorating and frowned. The Christmas music that echoed menacingly throughout Healin lodge made him want to puke. If he heard "White Christmas" one more time he would go get his standard issue and blow his brains out. Reno's scowl deepened at the happy gingerbread man that stared up at him from where he worked.
Reno hated Christmas the whole Christmas season and if you ask him why he'll certainly tell you the reason.
Tseng stumbled into the kitchen rubbing at the wound on his chest, he smiled lightly when he saw that Reno was frosting some gingerbread cookies.
"Are those gingerbread? I can't believe that you actually made them." Tseng said as he picked up one of the men Reno had finished.
Biting back a snide remark Reno put on his best smile, "Yeah, I found your recipe box when we went through the rubble of the Turk apartment. I did my best, so I hope they are as good."
Tseng took a tentative bite and Reno could see the sheer bliss sweep across his face.
"They are perfect Reno. Almost like I made them myself."
Reno gave a nod and kept working on the cookies, listening to Tseng hum lightly along to some song that was half in Wutain and half in English. He was happy to please his wounded boss, but everything he had done thus far was like nails grating against his very being.
Everyone knew that his head wasn't screwed on quite right. He'd tell you his shoes were a little too tight. Those weren't the reasons and he'd tell us all, that in fact his job left his heart two sizes too small.
Reno had gone out with Rude and picked out a tree. When they brought it back they decorated it according to Rufus' specifications. Then Rude went out and hung up the lights, while Reno decorated the inside of the house with garlands and wreaths. He had handmade wreathes for all of the bedroom doors. Rufus' was all white with feathers and white poinsettias, Tsengs was blue with some Wutain flowers, Rude's was a plain holly wreath that had gold wooden "R" on it, and Elena's was filled with pale pink faux poinsettias. Reno left his door blank, his only statement when his friends asked why he didn't make himself a wreath was "I ran out of materials."
That wasn't the reason; neither heart nor his shoes. He'd lie about it all, his Christmas time ruse.
He had done all the shopping for Rufus and Tseng. The only presents he didn't shop for were his own, which Elena got while she went out with Rude late one night. He bought the wrapping paper, bows, and tape. He helped Rufus wrap the first few before the man deemed he could do it on his own. He baked all the cookies, mailed all the cards, cleaned the entire house and even planned out the whole Christmas feast. He had done it all and completed every task set before him with a painful smile.
He hid his hatred year after year. Making sure his complaints his friends wouldn't hear.
Rufus came out from his room and smiled at Reno's cookies.
"They look delicious Reno. You have really out done yourself this year. Can I ask one favor though?" Rufus asked as he picked up a cookie and took a bite.
"Of course sir, what can I do for you?"
"I want to attend the Christmas eve service at a local church. I have made arrangements so that I can sit with a few body guards and not be bothered. Would you be willing to-"
"No." Reno said in the harshest tone he had ever heard Reno use.
He hated the boxes, he hated the bags, he hated the wrappings, and he hated the tags.
"No?" Rufus said confusedly.
"No. Absolutely not. You can take Rude and Elena."
"But I thought you would want-"
"No. I absolutely cannot attend the mass. I am sorry to disappoint you sir, but I simply can't." Reno said as he stood, "Now If you'll excuse me I have to shovel the front stoop so that Elena can get into the lodge without losing a boot in the snow."
Reno left without another word, leaving Rufus to stare incredulously after him.
If you could guess that he hated the season and then you asked why, he'd tell you the reason.
Rude came in and sat next to Rufus.
"He hates Christmas. Every single detail."
Rufus looked at Rude as though he had grown another head, "He has done everything this Christmas with a smile."
"He knows that we like Christmas and that most people like Christmas, so he doesn't make a big deal about hating it."
"Why does he hate it so much?"
"His entire family died in a Shinra raid on Christmas eve. He was five. Shinra troops believed the village was being run by anti-Shinra terrorists and much like the actions they took in Sector Seven, they wanted to remedy the situation. They waited until the town was in church then they ran piano wire across the door frames and lit the church on fire. Those that didn't burn alive died running through the piano wire. Those that escaped all that were most likely shot. Reno managed to survive when a Soldier that felt sorry for him, took him to an orphanage. He watched his family die on Christmas eve. The town is now buried and all records of the events sealed."
Rufus stared at Rude for a moment then looked away. Feeling suddenly very empty.
"He has burn scars on his legs from the fire. I always though they were from his usual clumsy ways with his EMR or a mission, until I asked him why he hated Christmas once I figured it out. He plays it off so well that it took me years to realize it." Rude said as he toyed with a cookie he contemplated eating.
"Now he works for the very people that took his family from him. I feel awful."
"It wasn't your fault. You were to young to even remember it. Don't dwell on the past. It only makes you cloud your future. That is a lesson that Sephiroth should have learned."
They both watched as Reno shoveled the porch, trying his best to get it done before Elena came back.
There aren't pretty rhymes once you know the reason. A traitor's a traitor no matter the season.
~Here it is chapter 7! I hope it was up to par! Thank you for reading and as always please feel free to review! I finished this kinda late so if anything sounds funny or wrong, please let me know! ~CR