Was he finally gone to the Lifestream?

He couldn't feel the excruciating pain and the metallic taste of blood anymore. It had been the only thing his brain could register for quite some time that it felt like forever now. He couldn't sense anything at all except for the incessant ringing in his ears. In fact, it felt as if he was floating. Or just numb.

Well, that's another thing added to the list of things to be thrown to the back of his mind. The redhead mulled through his hazy mind. He didn't remember the exhilarating relief he felt when he saw his partner again, the sickness at the pit of his stomach as he recounted the number of bullets and fractured bones in his body. Or the agonizing pain when something tackled his stomach and the rush of endorphins, which immediately calmed him the moment he saw his brunette in front of him, albeit their current situation.

No, he couldn't remember all of those. All he could recall was the memory of the last few days in the world of pain, which felt like the only thing that his mind could process.

"Am I...dead?" Reno croaked out, missing the signs of consciousness like the tingling at the tip of his fingers or his lifting eyelids. When he realized, it was too late to avoid the assault of glaring lights that immediately greeted him.

"Reno?" The recovering Turk almost couldn't hear his lover's voice over the annoying buzzing that turned out to be his own heart rate monitored by the standard ECG beside him.

Seira who was sitting on a chair beside his bed instantaneously stood up at the hoarse voice and leant down to his face, knocking back the chair in the process.

Her voice sounded distant and he was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. It was so bright, is that the normal lights on the ceiling or a halo on top of Sei's head? "The goddess is quite kind today, sending an angel that looks just like my fiancée." He mumbled.

Leave it to Reno to joke with a genuine confused look. The brunette resisted the urge to smack or hug him and opted to call for the other man who had stayed on guard with her instead. "Rude! He's awake!" It has been three days since he was brought to the hospital and she hadn't laid a finger on him in fear of hurting him again.

"Whoa, there's also an angel who looks like Rude. Do I still have to work in the Lifestream?"And leave it to Reno when it comes to convincing people to think that he was cracking a joke, when he was honestly lost.

"What the hell is he talking about?"

"He's on drugs." The silent Turk simply stated.

"Hey, I can't feel my body, is this normal? Sei, Seiiii, you know I love you babe, Rudeee? " Reno continued his slurred whining as he kept moving his head sideways drowsily as if to compensate the lack of ability to maneuver his body or just acting like a drunken man who had more than a shot too many for the night.

"Let me." Rude's booming voice immediately snapped the brunette's slightly open jaw shut. She had her hands awkwardly lifted in front of her while she swayed sideways and couldn't decide what to do or where to go first. She stepped back without a word as the man with the lesser choice of words took her place and poised his hands on either side of the rambling Turk's cheeks before swinging it down hard.

And the effect was immediate. Reno lurched as forward as his numb body allowed with a gasp as if he was rained by a bucket of ice cold water. "Fuck! Okay, I felt that one, partner."

"I'll call the doctor." Was the only reply he got before his decade old friend disappeared with a slam of the door, giving him the extra jolt needed to wake his mind.

The brunette was still looking blankly at the closed door when her lover chuckled, finally sober and less dazed. "As much as I want to smother you with kisses until you're sick of it. I'm afraid you'll have to do it for me. Given my current condition. "

And Seira would've jumped into his arms if her self-conscience had allowed. She sidestepped to her previous position and gingerly wrapped her arms around his head. "Re." She sighed as the weight and tension on her shoulder melted as if it was never there to begin. Suddenly, all she ever wanted to do was curl into a ball beside him and bask in his warmth despite the custom hard bed and pillow provided by the hospital that she used to hate with a passion.

"You won't hurt me, Seira." Reno was only able to lift his hand as far as the small of her back encouragingly and his head was slightly spinning again.

At first he thought it was his senses going back to sleep, before he realized that Seira was the one slipping away at an alarming rate. "Whoa, Sei!" He was able to grab a hold of her upper arms before it completely left him, however her knees had buckled and almost kissed the floor as her whole weight was dragging him off the center of the bed. "Rude, anyone, help!"

Tseng and Recca entered in bewilderment and took a moment before rushing to his aid as they processed what they were witnessing. They were expecting the girl to be shouting for help and not vice versa. The scarred Wutainese grabbed a hold of her arms and the back of her legs before gently hoisting her up to the bed while the barely conscious Turk somehow scooted to the side.

"She must be exhausted. I'll tell the doctor to check her after Reno and you shouldn't be awake yet in the first..." The head Turk sighed while the said man couldn't even register who was talking anymore. He almost immediately drifted back to another deep slumber after letting go of what felt like his entire strength as the familiar heat settled beside him.

Rufus Shinra was an evil man

Not necessarily past tense.

He had changed significantly since meteor struck and turned his image into a better fit for the new society.

It was for his own sake, in order to retain what little image he had left before it would be stripped away by the raging people under his feet. Hence, he wore a pristine white suit metaphorically too.

And that's why he bothered to use Shinra's resources to make a perfect replica of the serum for the main, dying antagonist who honestly, was of no use to him anymore.

Did he mention the lack of the main protagonist's blood in the serum his subordinate made?

Of course, no, it was a secret after all. And unlike his father's, his entire collection of secrets has stayed as one so far.

Even after chaos has taken over the world more than once.

...And another of his trusted subordinate had to sacrifice his life.

His eyes were wide open before flicker of recognitions in those azure orbs melted his whole tense body at her rousing.

She was way pass used to his jumpy nature taking over in those rare moments when she would wake up before him. Eyes wide, arms tense, hands sometimes balled into fists or ready to strike. It must take his whole being to stop those reflexes when it had been harshly plowed to your body.

She knew about the Turks job, the context of almost all of his past missions, the rules and what he had to do, but never the content of it. Reno didn't want to risk keeping her in the dark or making her a target for any of his enemy. Being close to her alone was enough cause. And the brunette knew he had thought about it all of the time to such an extent that part of his main objective of his lack of secrecy was to scare and make her pull out of this relationship willingly.

The last thing they would ever want to do was make the other regret whatever they had done to even start this volatile bond. There were too many external factors that could just come and jeopardize everything.

And that's why both parties tried the hardest to keep their internal state as stable as possible. Every time he looked the slightest bit shaken, she would just gently pull him close with both hands on either side of his cheeks, letting him memorize her features while she press their forehead together and close her eyes. "Reno...it's me, hey." She would whisper different versions of it, either saying how much she loved him or something along the lines of being there at the moment. Anything to calm his oversensitive nerves. And the redhead would usually just close the space between them and feel, to make sure that it wasn't a dream anymore.

And they would stay close for as long as possible till one of them broke the silence. It was Seira's turn this time. "What happened? How did I-"

"Don't worry, you're just exhausted or they won't just leave you here." The brunette sighed as she stirred into a comfortable position on her sides and lifted the blanket up to their neck to hide Reno's bandaged arms and chest that wasn't covered by the standard hospital gown.

"The doctor told me what they did to you, Reno." She rested her hand on his uncovered forearm beside her and slipped her hand in between the gap of his thumb and forefinger that was free of clips and IV lines, bending her head down so that half of her face was hidden.

"I'm sorry you had to hear all that." The redhead's voice wasn't regretful or teasing, it was just flat and his lover regretted not being able to see his expression when he said it. Was he being sarcastic? She would never know.

"What are you sorry for?! I should be! Their main target was me from the first place, not you." She recoiled from his hands as if it was suddenly hurting her and hissed, whispering as loud as she could in the dead of the night and resisted the urge to push him away from her in sudden disgust.

Reno watched his lover's pained expression, her eyes moist with tears that had sprang to life at the ferocity of her words. He wanted to smile at his stupidity, how could he forgot her personality. He either had spent too much time away from her or it was just her raging hormones that he wasn't used to, he was too tired to even think right now. "I'm sorry." He repeated, sincere this time and intertwined their fingers together before bringing it up to his lips. "You know I didn't mean it that way." He wiped the corner of her eyes with the back of his attached hands while the brunette blinked the moistness away.

She didn't even realize the tears that have escape till he did the motion. She didn't expect conceiving would change her this much, already finding times when she couldn't control herself more than she would've liked these days. "I'm sorry, Re. Didn't mean to shout at you." Seira sighed heavily and relaxed back to her previous position.

"You have nothing to worry now, I heard he's dead."

"Who?" She managed to look up in time this time, but her lover's gaze was fixed straight to the white ceiling. It didn't take long for her to answer her own question. "Oh, how do you know? How long was I asleep?"

"Tseng told me that his heart couldn't take it when I woke up again for awhile, you slept for 1 full day max. How long was I knocked out?"

"But I thought Rufus gave him some of my blood? More than 3. It took the doctors quite awhile to patch you up."

"He did?" Reno found it odd that Rufus would be that nice. He noticed his boss' slight change of personality in the presence of people outside the Turks' circle, but he was never convinced that he had changed that much. Well, Turk's were never meant to question, a professional Turk shouldn't give it much thought as long as it didn't hurt anyone they cared for. "Maybe his body was just too weak to begin with." He shrugged.

The redhead was about to open his mouth to break the silence before he can feel himself falling asleep again, when he heard her hesitant enquiry. "What about the other guy?"

"Hmm? The butler? Tseng seemed to be interested in recruiting him since he didn't really put much a fight as long as he can keep his boss alive while he is. Seems like he's doing what he is just because of some past debt. What about him?" There was an edge of irritation at the end of his sentence which didn't go unnoticed by Seira and she can feel the corner of her lips begin to lift up again.

"Nothing, I guess Tseng is right. He took quite a lot of unnecessary trouble when he caught me. Jealous?"

It was Reno's turn to get sensitive this time as he heard her giggle right beside his ears. "If you get it don't ask about another man next time."

"Says the guy who has been making me worried sick."

He really wanted to retort that he was the same guy who almost lost his life but decided against it. An argument really was the last thing he wanted right now, even if it was a playful one. "Oh, was the little one worried too? You don't look like you've gained much weight, you should eat more, remember that there's two of you now."

Seira wanted to laugh out loud and she didn't even think she'd feel guilty if she couldn't hold it in and wake or scare anyone near the room. She had never expected to see this side of Reno, he looked more excited than her who already couldn't wait to get over the next 6 months. "Yeah, we were so worried that none of us could eat much."

And she had never expected him to be the father type. Frankly, the thought that he would just leave her with the big responsibility even crossed her mind once. But now that she had seen this side of him, there was really nothing to worry about.

Seira's smile widened as if to acknowledge her attention to Reno's story on the Turk's habit to sneak in food from a nice restaurant nearby whenever either was sick.

It was a happy end for another external factor after all.

"Hey, are you listening. Tell Rude to order the usual for me tomorrow." The redhead drawled, feeling as if he just reached home after a whole day of work.

"I am, Reno. Let's worry about that tomorrow, okay. Your eyes are barely open." She stifled a laugh and as if on cue, a yawn as well.

"Okay, okay, says the yawning sleeping beauty. Sweet dreams."

Seira drowsily flashed her teeth in a dazzling smile."Love you too. Nites, Re."

A/N: And that's it, the end of this long story. T.T I know its sad but I gotta move on to the other plot bunnies that has been hopping around my head in hopes of getting my attention. Next should be Kingdom hearts! As I've promised in my KH oneshot. Of course I haven't forgot about it, silly you.

Thanks for all the support in the last two years, Love and Sin didn't even take this long and this sequel was supposed to be a short thing! I think my brain just kinda jumped ahead hehe.

Anyways, shoutout to Dontgotaclue88, Nightcrawler666 and TwinkleS for the latest review, thanks for sticking out till the end. Love you guys and hope to see you in another of my stories!