There is Hope in Pandemonium

Rating: M for violence, descriptive imagery, sexuality in later chapters and more. You have been warned!

Summary: "Vincent felt the rumble deep inside him that was coming from Chaos. He was surprised at the demon's open admission. Reno's smirk only widened to a more feral one. That rumble sounded surprisingly like a purr."

Note: starting school tomorrow actually… now where that usually means less time to work on this, I will look back at my previous years of stupid education and will say that it means I have more time to work on this and less time to look at pron… but we'll see if education has improved since last year…

Chapter 10

The helicopter set down about an hour's walk from the entrance of the cave and both men exited. They started walking towards the mountains and Vincent ignored the tug from the monitor in his hands, instead following the footsteps to the woman's cave by memory.

Reno followed silently, noticing the beeping was going off randomly, getting off track before suddenly coming back stronger than before. He wanted to question as to where he was going, but a moment later he got his answer. They entered the Crystal Cave where Lucrecia had locked herself in one of the crystals above the pool where Chaos was born.

What was in the crystal though was not the woman's slender frame in her white gown and peaceful expression. It was a gruesome mutation that Vincent immediately realized was Chaos.

He startled in his step and then both men felt rather than heard Chaos speak to them. It recognized Vincent, its eyes snapped open behind the crystal and it wanted to tear it away and tear the man's body apart.

"Yo… Vince... we should get outta here," Reno noticed the small camp near one of the other exits of the cave and a moment later he recognized the red smudges around the crystal floor as blood. The older man would not move though and Reno worried for a moment that the demon was calling out to him. But he felt everything the creature was sending out. He felt the anger and blood-lust that washed off in waves and had his hand itching for his EMR. He felt the sudden desire to rip something apart and watch the blood spray on his features before digging his hands and maw into the warm richness of red. Red as Vincent's cape, his mantle, his eyes to be torn out and stared at. He felt such arousal running through his veins like never before at the thought of the red-eyed man bleeding beneath him—

"Let's get outta here man, we found what we were lookin' fer…" Reno reached for the frozen man but his hand was slapped away. The screen fell to the ground and cracked. Voices sounded somewhere in the distance and Reno got even more worried. "Fuck!" Reno snapped out his PHS and dialled Rude. Where a regular phone would have no reception Reno had rigged his, using illegal means, for it work anywhere in the world if only to a short time.

Within moments he was connected, told Rude their location and situation in a few words and hung up.

"Vince, if we don't get outta here now, we ain't leavin'!" he reached for the man again but this time his arm was twisted in a painful hold. When he looked up into the man's eyes he was surprised to find them a glowing gold instead of their usual red. He looked towards the demon in the crystal and noticed Vincent's red eyes staring back at him.

"Fuck! Sorry for this, man!" he growled and with his arm still held in the twisted death grip he grabbed his EMR with the other hand, set the dial on lower power, and zapped the older man in his side. The electric shock ran to his own body but it got Vincent out of whatever trance he was in. The man shook his head and confused red eyes stared at the redhead that was rubbing his sore wrist. "Company. Out. Now!" Reno barked and the two quickly escaped.

They ran almost the entire way back to the helicopter, Vincent finally regaining himself. After a moment he felt his body morph and blend into his cloak before it bounced off the ground in a speedy run, wrapped itself around Reno, and continued in its way-ward flight back towards the helicopter. They were there in minutes and Reno was deposited on the ground while the red cloak circled around him a few times before circling around nothing and slowing when Vincent's form appeared from its folds once again.

"How da fuck did ya do that?" Reno's eyes widened in confusion and horror at the same time.

"I apologize for my behaviour inside the cave. We must report this development to Reeve and Rufus."

"Fuck yea, we should. But first I deserve ta know why I almost got my wrist popped out of its socked."

A moment of silence then Vincent decided. He had already told the male more than enough so a few more bits of information would not harm anyone. "Chaos. That is him inside of her body."

"Inside of who'se body?"

"Doctor Lucrecia Crescent." Reno's eyes widened in sudden understanding. That was why the man knew the cave complex like the back of his hand, that was why he was frozen in front of her vision. But that did not explain the glowing yellow eyes nor the sudden trick of transportation they had achieved. When Reno mentioned that the older man crouched to the ground and hunched his frame slightly to hide his laboured breathing. "I'm surprised I lasted as long as I did in that form. It usually does not allow more than a few meter's travel by myself, let alone with another person."

"Then why try it?"

"Because I felt Chaos moving that way."

"Wait! He's back in your body!" Reno shrieked suddenly, drawing his EMR in defence against the still man.

Vincent shook his head. "Actually… I don't think he ever fully left. When I saw him in there I felt the anger he had towards me as if it was my own… but I also felt it wanted something from me. Maybe my body is more suitable than Lucrecia's as his vessel, maybe there is a part of him still in me that allows some of these tricks to work. I do not know."

Reno nodded and slowly dropped his guard. "Let's go back to Junon and tell the others what we've found."

"I thought you already contacted Rude to tell him? Is he not coming?"

"I did, but not for that. One thing we are taught is to pass on the information as quickly as possible once we realize it may be in danger. First thing Rude will do is contact Rufus to tell him that and if they deem it important enough then they will search for me or attempt any contact."

"I see not that much has changed about the Turks." Reno nodded and both men got back in the helicopter. Once Reno started the engine and blade rotation he turned to see Vincent remove his mantle, cape, gauntlet and the metal coverings of his boots. He reached for another syringe and this time with no metal claw hand he was able to inject himself with the substance. Reno watched in fascination as the man unbuckled every buckle on his shirt but kept the buttons closed. He closed his eyes, put his headset on and leaned back in the chair. He appeared relaxed and asleep in moments and Reno wondered for a moment if he really was.

The redhead spoke something into the microphone of his headset, hearing his voice echo in the ear-pieces and knowing it would do the same for the set the gunman wore. No response came and for a moment the redhead was honoured that the man could relax enough around him to fall asleep. He reached over and ran his fingers over the thin ridges on the man's neck, his eyes following his fingers down as he undid a few more buttons on the man's shirt.

Reno did not notice the half-covered red eyes that followed his movements, his own aquamarine orbs with pieces of the moon in them were focused on the task bestowed upon his hands. They watched his pale, but still not near anywhere as white as Vincent's own, fingers run through the scarred skin. Every so often they encountered a scar and that meant a lot since they had barely ran ten centimetres before he realized what he was doing. He opened the lapels of the shirt a little, looking at the collarbones and seeing the remnants of a bad stitch-job near one of them and a star-shaped scar on the other. He ignored the stitches and ran his fingers over the baby-smooth skin of the star-shaped scar.

His body moved closer and he did not even realize the simple fascination his fingers had started when all he wanted to do was allow the man to breathe a little easier on his trip back to the Junon Area. He continued his slow dance of the small uncovered area on the older man's chest before returning to the ridges on his neck. He wanted to know what those would feel like under his tongue. The redhead caught himself as he was leaning into the other.

The thought of touching the other man so intimately was arousing in and of itself, but what Reno found the strangest is that he was not so aroused as he was interested in the other male. He wanted to know what was hidden beneath the rest of that black fabric. His gaze shot up to the other's face and noticed the eyes were closed. He then noticed the red bandana had remained and figured it would be easier to sleep if his hair was not all over the place. He worked carefully on removing the red cloth and once it was down he noticed another scar on the man's forehead. It ran from one temple to the centre and had the same markings of it being stitched back together with the stitches forgotten for too long to allow the skin to heal over them before being ripped out to make the scar more gruesome.

Eyes of an exotic summer mix remained fixed on the scar while his fingers trailed gently down the man's face, across the ridges of his neck, pushing the collar of the shirt open wider on the side and running down his left arm. His eyes focused on his own fingers when they touched the buckles of his elbow-high glove. It could not be that bad. Reno moved his body carefully to the edge of his own seat and started to undo the top buckle of the glove.

"That can stay on," a hand landed atop his and a deep voice rumbled beneath him. Reno blushed a dark red and jumped back slightly, noticing the blood red eyes glazed over as they stared at him.

After a moment he regained himself and smirked. "Knew I should've gone fer da pants," he turned away, using his cocky attitude as an excuse not to face the man. He didn't notice the light curl of Vincent's lips as the older man continued to observe the redhead quietly. They returned to the Junon base in silence.

.tbc

Pssh… stupid Reno… GO FOR THE PANTS! Tche… loser…

.sye