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: the sex scene mentioned in this chapter is not included because it has little to do with the storyline, however I do have it written up… depending on how people answer, I can either post here is a sub-chapter (14.5 XD) or a one-shot on my profile… what do you guys prefer? (P.S. this sex scene is also a tribute to DamonWesker for reviewing pretty much every damn chapter! Thank you soo much for that, love!)

Chapter 14

"Reno."

"Rufus," the redhead grinned as he walked into the office and plopped himself down on the chair across the blonde male. "What's up, love?"

"Do not talk to me like that," disgust was on the younger man's features as he turned his icy blue eyes away. "I have a special mission for you."

"Figured, since ya called me in the office when ya usually do everythin' possible to make sure we ain't alone together." The predatory smirk and the smell of sex that radiated off the confident redhead made Rufus nauseous.

"Yes, well… extreme measures. I need you to follow Vincent for me."

Reno's eyes narrowed to thin slits and he took out his pack of cigarettes. "Why? Tseng couldn't do it, what makes ya think I can?"

"Tseng refused to do it." This caught the redhead off guard. "And sadly, you are the only Turk other than him that has the skill to follow that man."

"What makes ya think he won't shoot me?"

"Oh please," Rufus's expression of disbelief and annoyance almost made the redhead laugh. Almost. "You would probably enjoy being shot by him. You practically wor—"

Reno sat up suddenly, the scrape of the chair drowning out the rest of Rufus's words. "I can't take on 'nother mission. New shipments of supplies are ta be sent out early tomorrow mornin' and ya've already assigned me ta help out till Cid returns."

The president's expression changed to one of mild interest and amusement. "If you do not take this mission, and succeed in bringing me the information I need, you will find your replacement work with Cid Highwind to be the last job you ever do."

"Ya can't kill me," Reno scowled, pointing fingers with a cigarette between them at the blonde president. Both knew his words to be true as more than once the redhead had gotten on the young president's nerves enough for orders to be sent out for his death. More than once has the redhead walked into his office without invitation the next day, a lazy grin and that swagger that signified he had been drinking or had gotten a really good lay in place. Sometimes both.

"Now what would be the point of that? I can, however, make sure that you will never find a respectable job again. I am sure there are some streets in Edge that are as bad as the slums of Midgar. Maybe you could find your old dealer and fix there once you are done here." Reno's eyes narrowed in contempt and his teeth latched onto the butt of his cigarette.

"Yer a fuckin' asshole."

"All that I ask of you is to obey my orders. I do not understand why I need to threaten you to do so." The president's voice returned to its cold and calculating tone. "You should take it as a compliment that I am sending you on such an important job."

The tall Turk turned to leave the office. "Oh, and Reno. He left the Junon area two hours ago. Some scouts said they saw him heading towards Kalm." Reno did not do something as childish as slam the door on his way out, instead he just exhibited his usual habit of ashing his cigarette on the floor before stepping out quietly.

Five days later Vincent turned to look over his shoulder when he thought he felt someone following him. His eyes narrowed into the small crowd gathered on the streets of Rocket Town. On his quick travel to the area he had seen only two suspicious characters. One of them was an obvious Turk-in-training, in his black suit and white tie, that passed him as if just another citizen. The other was much earlier on his adventure and in the form of a loud and obnoxious redhead that had burst into his room at the Inn in Kalm claiming to have gotten lost.

It had started off as annoying but had turned into a fun night for the both of them. Vincent had left hours before daybreak with a passed out Turk still in his bed. He would blame it on alcohol as he was sure the redhead was doing as well. It was supposed to be a one-night thing.

But even as he thought of the redhead he felt the urges coiling inside him and making his covered hand fist tightly under his cape. The ex-Turk looked over his shoulder again before disappearing into an alleyway. A few moments later passed a young girl that Vincent easily recognized as Yuffie and he had to wonder what the ninja was doing there. She had been left in Wutai to deal with the closing and traditional ceremonies of the negotiations. Tseng had returned for the fact that he was banned from such traditions due to past events and had mentioned that they usually lasted weeks.

Then Vincent realized that maybe he had just mistaken some wanderer for the young girl. His concentration was slipping. He turned into the alley and slipped through the window into the Inn room he had rented earlier that day.

Although it was originally Cid's hometown the small place was now under Rebel control and the ex-Turk had to admit that they knew what they were doing. Self-production for the town had doubled since his last visit here with the blonde pilot and the citizens seemed perfectly content with not being involved in any specific movements. The current mayor of the town was a young woman that proudly claimed her belief in MAYHEM while at the same time working on stabilizing production for the townsfolk.

If it were not for the fact that the group had forcibly taken one of his closest friends, if not the closest, then Vincent would have thought them to be doing a good job in realigning the world after so many mishaps in the past decade alone.

The ex-Turk closed his window as he thought this and removed his mantle and cape. Before they had even hit the ground he sat on the edge of the bed and hunched over. His covered hand, though no gauntlet today, started working on undoing the buckles of his shirt quickly while the other supported his upper body from falling over completely. His breathing had gotten heavier. As soon as his shirt was open he fell back onto the bed, letting the black material open even more and closing his eyes as he gasped for breath. It was getting even worse than Shelke had predicted. She had warned him of what may happen to his body in this process as well as the side-effects of the slightly modified injections he was taking. These two combined had him raised once more, elbows propped on spread knees and head dangling between his legs as he started coughing out blood. He did not bother to collect his hair and watched as it was spattered with red.

It felt like hours later when he stopped coughing but the gunman was too tired to move from his current position and instead forced his trembling arms to support his body as he dry heaved above the blood-soaked floor. Then he felt the painful twitch in his left arm and groaned out loud when he grabbed at it with his right. His arm was shaking so bad that even hunching over it could not hide the tremors.

He coughed again, this time choking on the blood that had gone up his throat and forcing him to gag and his stomach to turn in reflex. He was lucky all he had to consume that day was a glass of gin, but the burning sting tore his throat apart and he knew his voice would be even deeper and rougher than before.

Reno watched from the small camera he had installed into the man's room when Vincent was out that day. His eyes were unreadable as he watched the powerful man hunched and shaking, appearing as broken as the redhead had when he had gone through withdraw earlier in his life. When the gunman finally fell back into bed and closed his eyes Reno counted it to be two hours and forty-three minutes since he had returned to the room.

He reached for a cigarette at his side and noticed his pack was almost empty, then noticed the ashtray on the desk stuffed to the brink with cigarette butts. The bottle of scotch beside it was also empty with barely a sip left in the glass that was probably completely diluted by the ice. He turned back to the screen as he lit the cigarette.

Vincent was one of the hardest targets Reno had ever had to follow. He had an advantage that he knew the man and even more so that he had slept with him. On their last night together in Kalm he had been able to plant a tracker on the male and though Vincent had gone to Bone Village and North Corel before arriving at Rocket Town, the redhead had caught up with him. The man had the most uncanny luck when it came to transportation, whether it be a boat, plane, train, or even a cart of supplies. He had gotten to all three places within a record time that Reno thought would be hard to beat even with his bird. Having to follow him around without the luxury of the helicopter was even worse.

Having watched that scene for the past three hours and now sitting to watch the man as he slept was the worst experience of this entire mission so far. Just as he was about to turn in for the night he noticed something strange about the man sleeping. He wondered for a moment why he had not seen it the first night they had slept together, or the time Vincent had slept in the helicopter, but it was impossible to miss now even through the quality of the mini camera.

The man's body was disappearing!

Not completely, but the entire left arm that was usually gloved was gone from sight, fading away into nothing. The weight of it was still visible on the sheet underneath but the arm itself was invisible. The change slowly crawled up the man's shoulder. That was when Reno also noticed the man's face was completely relaxed, a peaceful expression that he had not witnessed ever when he had watched the man sleep before. The rest of his appendages slowly became translucent, but the left arm was the only one completely missing. The blood that the man had not wiped from his lips and hair slowly disappeared again but not in the same manner as Reno easily recognized the faint green glow of healing that slipped around the man's lips before echoing dully in his throat and chest.

And then a obsidian claw settled into the sheets, the dark skin appearing completely black in the darkness of the room and quality of Reno's camera. But within moments Reno recognized the muscled black appendage for what it truly was and the cigarette that had been dangling from his lips since the changes had started finally fell to the wooden floor.

"Holy shit!" he reached for his PHS but even as he heard the dial tone ringing in his head he had no idea what to tell his boss on the information he had just uncovered. Hey boss, it appears that my partner is still housing that guy that MAYHEM seems to think they own… what should I do? Kill him now, or later? The answer was obvious and as soon as Rufus's annoyed tone sounded the redhead blinked into awareness. "Nevermind," he spoke and closed the phone, eyes never tearing away from the scene as he watched the sheets being torn apart under that claw. Vincent had to have known about this somehow… he had to know!

And Reno had fallen asleep with the berserker in the same bed!

.tbc

Also… forgot to mention this previous chapter but the whole Before Crisis story, I'm making so that Reno (who was obviously part of the Turks at that time) never actually met with Vincent (don't know if he did in the game or not) and doesn't even know about him having worked with Veld and Tseng.

.sye