Don't hit me for this one. Really. It's not like I'm enjoying Reno's misery. I like Reno, really I do. He's just having a major case of "PJTC" (prematurely jumping to conclusions). But doesn't it make you just want to wrap him up and take him home?

I know. I said this would be the last chapter. It's not. But I am close.

Enjoy.

fire mystic

Broken

Reno leaned his back against the wall and slid down to a squat, catching his breath. He forced himself to wait by counting backwards from five before taking the chance of throwing himself across the darkened street, rolling as he heard the gunfire, and then crashing into the cover of the next building. He didn't have time to stop now. From the way the bullets had narrowly missed him, plunking out pieces of concrete instead, they were onto him, and there was no choice but to stand and fight or run. He was in no shape to fight, so running it was. He took off down the alley, fully aware of the booted footsteps hitting the pavement from down the street and around the corner. He figured he had thirty seconds, maybe, before those boots rounded the corner. If he couldn't make himself scarce by then, he was done for.

He skidded to a sudden halt. Fuck. Where the hell was he? He searched the alley frantically for something that identified it. This should not be happening. He was on familiar ground. He knew these streets as if he had designed them himself and yet he was drawing a blank. Desperate, knowing time was working against him, he spied a fire escape ladder, and made a running leap, grabbing onto it, and nimbly climbing the first landing. One more flight and he threw himself into an open window, crouched down into the darkness and waited, listening.

The footsteps approached, slowed, then stopped.

"What the fuck?" He heard from below.

"Where'd he go?"

"He came this way. I know he did."

"Is there a way out of this alley?"

"What about the fire escape?"

Reno's held his breath.

"Nah. No way anyone could get up there."

"Hn. I thought I had heard…"

"You're always hearing things."

Reno let the breath go. Somewhere further out, there was a shout.

"Here! There's a hole in the fence back here."

Reno waited a good while for the footsteps to fade and for his heart and breathing to return to something resembling normal before carefully making his way back to the rendezvous point.

Tseng was not happy. He knew something had gone wrong out there, he just didn't know what. Elena and Rude stood facing him, both wearing their blankest faces, which in Rudes case was his usual, but in Elena's case, well, she just couldn't hide like Rude could. The pinch of worry around her eyes didn't escape Tseng's notice, but when he pressed her for an explanation, she somehow managed to remain silent.

He turned to Reno, who looked like shit.

"You look like you were trampled by a herd of chocobos."

He flashed Tseng his most flirtatious grin. "Why, Boss! You do care!"

"Eighty-six it, Reno. What happened?"

"Well it's really quite simple, Boss. Herd of Chocobos plus one red-headed turk plus darkness equals a disaster waiting to happen. Really, Tseng. I thought you were better at math than that."

Tseng narrowed his eyes. "You're off duty. Until further notice."

Reno stood up from the chair he was flopped in, a smirk lighting his face, and saluted as he strolled out of the room.

"Once again rewarded for a job well done." The door slammed behind him.

Rude followed without a word. Elena paused at the door, speaking over her shoulder before pulling the door closed.

"Just because you don't have feelings doesn't mean the rest of us don't." She didn't see how her words made him flinch. She never saw the sorrow in his eyes. She never heard Tseng's response, spoken to an empty room.

"If you only knew the feelings I have Elena." He sat down at his desk, resting his head on his hands. "I just don't want to hurt you…or myself."

Reno wasted no time getting out of the Shinra compound. Rude was hard-pressed to keep up with him, and Elena knew where he was going only because Rude rang her cell phone as she left Tseng's office. They were both disappointed with Tseng for not giving Reno a break before this. Tseng had kept Reno on call, even knowing Reno was having a tough time of it. He had let Shinra push Reno to the edge when he could have stopped it before it got this bad.

Neither Rude nor Elena, however, was going to let Reno off the hook. He had screwed up, screwed up bad, and nearly gotten Elena killed. He managed to scrape it together just in time, drawing the fire on himself despite his own injuries. It seemed like a noble idea, saving his fellow Turks from his own screw-up, but Rude and Elena both knew the truth. Reno wasn't only endangering them; he was becoming careless with his own safety.

His time to deal with this on his own was up; it was time to make him deal with it, like it or not.

They ended up in the hallway in front of his apartment door, looking as if they were ready to draw in a gunfight. Reno stood before the door facing down the hall at them, a dangerous expression on his face. Rude and Elena both looked like they were getting ready to duck for cover, but both knew they would go down before they ran. Surprisingly, it was Rude who spoke first.

"Reno, we need to deal with this."

"Look, I know I fucked up, but I fixed it in the end, ya know? It's all good."

"No. No it's not. You're feelings are getting in the way of doing your job. Tonight was proof of that. We all know it."

"We're worried about you, Reno." Elena took the chance of taking a step forward.

"You're worried…about me." Reno dropped his chin to his chest, shaking his head. When he looked up at them again, his eyes were cold, harshly lit with his anger, and his arrogant, cocky smile was in place.

"You shouldn't be, ya know? It's taken me a while, but I'm getting around to the truth. We do our job, never getting too close to anyone, because getting personal gets us hurt. Isn't that Tseng's oh-so-valuable advice. If only I'd known how fucking right he was. He should give himself a pat on the back for that one."

"Reno, that's not true. We all need someone. Tseng is the one who needs to learn the lesson."

He sneered at Elena. "Lesson? I'll tell ya what the lesson is, Elena. When you finally find that person, it only takes a bit of time before they learn the real truth."

"What truth is that, Reno?" Her voice had become small, and she could feel the sting of tears in her eyes.

He turned to unlock the door. "The truth, Elena, is that there no one for us. The truth is no one can love a Turk. We're not worth it."