The Course of Ordinance

18 years earlier…

… … …

With an angry snort, a stocky-built Wutian paced across the floor of his Kalm-located office with his PHS pressed against his ear in a knuckle-whitening grip as he gritted his teeth. "What the hell are you telling me?" he demanded, before taking a large drink from his sake-filled glass and then walking up to a door that was slightly ajar to slam it shut, "I told them to get recruits! I didn't say that they had to be fucking redheads!"

In an attempt to justify how he had nothing to do with anything that had happened, and how he was only sent to pass the message along, the male on the other end simply mimicked what he was told, and explained how the others had stressed that the redheads would have had more value on the street than anyone else would have had if it weren't for what happened.

He also made it a point to explain on the other men's behalf that they were practically given the redheads by an informant, and that there was no reason to worry because they were Slum Rats from Sector 7.

"Sector 7?" the Wutian screamed, and threw his free hand into the air as if to grab onto some sense of logic that was hanging there. "You idiot! For all they know, that could have been Renault and Haldric!"

At the repetition of the names, and the dead silence caused by the confusion on the other end, the Wutian fell into his chair with a sudden wave of spent energy overcoming him and wiped at his mouth. "You had better hope that those boys are okay," he growled with a menacing threat, not caring whether the male he was speaking to was responsible for any of what happened or not, and then he sat forward to pour some more Sake into his glass.

When the male on the other line attempted to plead his innocence, and that he didn't even know who the boys were while voicing his concerns about the others going back, and that no one was sure of the state the boys were in when they were left for dead, he was cut off by the Wutian and ordered to stay put.

"Never mind that," he said, and took another drink while staring at the door he'd slammed earlier. "Just tell me where those idiots left them… I'll send someone to collect them for me."

On that note, the male on the other line became even more nervous, but not so much over the fact that he had to relay the message about the older redhead being left in an alley, partially alive, to his angry boss. He was nervous about telling him that the boy was left in the alley because the Turks had raided the building that the younger redhead was in, and killed all the men that were in there.

Apparently, the Turks were misinformed and sent on a raid to halt a known weapons movement, also under orders from his boss and in the area. Instead, they wound up finding an equally important branch to an illegal prostitution ring and took advantage of the opportunity.

The Wutian's men were afraid the raid would cross over into the other building they occupied and therefore panicked, dumping the boy in the alley and abandoning him to die on his own. Despite all that, the part that made the male the most nervous was the part where he had to tell his boss that the younger of the two boys was taken by the Turks up to the Shinra hospital on the Plate.

"Are you fucking serious?" he asked the younger male, with a low and disbelieving tone, "You're going to sit there and tell me that the Turks decided to have a fucking moment of goodwill to save the life of a fucking Slum Rat?"

Apologizing for not wanting to be put in the position he was in, and not knowing that his boss knew damn-well that the other men were with him, using him as the whipping boy for the brunt of their boss' anger, he began trying to come up with solutions to avoid being the brunt from the crowd that was already surrounding him.

With a dark shadow crossing over his already shadowed face by the low lighting in the room, The Boss tapped the ancestral ring than he wore on his baby finger onto the edge of the desk he was sitting at while half-listening to the stuttering excuses from his young employee and half-listening to his own thoughts on how he was going to clean up the mess that he was suddenly finding himself in.

With his eyes still on the door, he took another drink of the sake in front of him and then wiped the mark left from his lips off the edge of the glass. "Shut up," he suddenly commanded, in an attempt to have a moment of uninterrupted thought after the other male suggested sending someone up to the hospital on the Plate to kill the younger redhead to keep him from talking.

"Fucking psychopathic Renault isn't about to indulge in anything that can get himself into trouble. He'll keep his mouth shut until the day that little fucker dies. Plus…" he started, and leaned back into his chair while tapping his ring on the bottom of the glass, "He hates those fucking Turks."

After taking another sip from his glass, he leaned forward to refill his drink. "Here's what we're going to do, Adrienne… You're going to stay put and wait for one of my men from Kalm to come and get you. You're officially off the streets now… Congratulate yourself for not having to sell yourself anymore to earn your keep.

"You're close in age to Haldric and possess a similar temperament to Renault… minus the psychotic episodes, so you'll benefit me better if I keep you close to him after he's been nursed back to health. It might help him to have someone around that he can relate to after such an ordeal."

Letting out a deep sigh and taking another drink, he set his glass down, and stood up to stretch out his legs. "At least, until I can get Renault back… provided those assholes didn't damage the fucking kid beyond repair."

Then with a chuckle, the Wutian walked around to the front of his desk and stared at the door he'd slammed earlier again. "Speaking of assholes," he added, and took another drink before letting a deviant smile cross his lips at the thought of what would happen to the male on the other line after his next orders. "Tell those idiots that since it's your last night to be up for grabs, that they're more than welcome to have their way with you… I'll be making sure that you passed that message along too. So don't get any bright ideas, Adrienne."

At that, he ended the conversation and closed the PHS, putting it back in his pocket. "Tseng…" he muttered, and took another drink while tapping his ring on the glass again, "Why the hell would you go out of your way to save a delinquent?"

Shaking his head in quiet and suspicious question, the Wutian walked over to the door and opened it to step through and made his way down the dimly-lit hallway of three dark mahogany doors on either side.

Stopping at the second one on his left, he tapped his ring on his glass again and then took a drink before pounding roughly on the door. "I told you to get to sleep!" he growled, and then he coldly smiled to himself when he heard the scurrying on the other side. After that, he muttered, "Fucking brat," to himself, before walking out the back door to meet the men that were waiting for him.

"We have a problem," he stated, accepting the jacket that his driver slipped over his shoulders as he walked out onto the terrace towards the vehicle, "My two biggest dealers have just been fucked over."

"Renault and Haldric?" asked the other man.

"Yes… Apparently, the idiots at the other end of business thought they'd be a lucrative investment. Only, things didn't exactly go as planned."

"Renault?" his partner smoothly asked, and held the car door open for his Boss with a knowing grin on his face.

With a chide snort, the Wutian took a good look at the man beside him before stepping in and muttered, "Who the fuck else would be capable of escalating a simple situation out of control like this?"

The Present…

… … …

"Quit fucking around and get rid of him, Aldrich!" shouted the man on the other end of the PHS as the redhead held it to his ear.

Unaffected by the harsh tone of his boss, the one-eyed male coyly grinned and brushed the hair by his good eye back while calmly replying, "I thought the plan was to get rid of them all."

"Renault is the least of our concern. If Kurn did his job like he was supposed to, he won't last much longer."

"Yes, well after all of your previous attempts to kill the little parasite, he's still with us, isn't he?" the redhead provoked with a small, satisfying grin.

"That's unimportant and you know it."

Raising his brow in a feigned shock-like manner to express his boredom over the matter, he placed his hand on the shoulder of the young President bound to the chair beside him. "Forgive me, Sir, but perhaps you've forgotten that Erryn has entered the picture," he needled, and tapped his fingers on Rufus' shoulder before dragging his hand across the back of the young man's neck.

"This had better not be getting personal, Aldrich."

Feeling the need to get his boss riled up more, he felt the need to remind him that, "Everything that involves Renault is personal, Sir… even with you." Then he ran his fingers playfully through the strands near Rufus' neck, before leaning forward and pulling the young President's PHS out of his own pocket so he could snake it back into its rightful place while sporting a cold smile.

"In fact, sometimes, I think you're more obsessed with him than I am," he purred, and smiled at the blonde when he turned his head to coldly regard him.

"Don't push it, Aldrich," came the Wutian-accented voice on the other line while someone in the background snickered and suggested that perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea to lure the redheaded Turk to the slaughter, since he was apparently so much trouble alive. "You saw what he did to my men."

With a sudden wash of coldness, Aldrich gripped his fingers into Rufus' left shoulder without even realizing it, completely ignoring the fact that his young captive was ignoring the grip. "Yes, well from what I recall, your men deserved what they got!"

"Yes, and from what I recall, you should be thankful that I spared your life!"

Pushing himself away from the young President and walking toward the front of him, he placed his hand over the phone and bitterly muttered out, "If you call this a fucking life." Then he turned around to face his blonde captive and ran his fingers along the smooth jaw-line with a wolfish smile while meeting a calculating and unwavering glare in return.

"You had better not be planning on double-crossing me, you ungrateful miscreant."

"I have no intention of double-crossing you, Sir," he answered, while still wearing a hungry and uncaring grin, "I believe I've already learned my lesson from the last time." After answering his boss in a mocking and non-challenging sing-song, he knelt in front of the young blonde and smiled coldly at him as their eyes remained locked in a daring challenge. "In fact, my only intention is to give you everything that you want."

"Then kill the damned President and his Turks!" the Wutian shouted in a loud growl, before angrily hanging up.

"Oh… I'll do more than that," he slyly answered to the dead air, and let the phone slide out of his hand as he leaned closer to the young President in front of him and confided, "In fact, I think I'll solve all his problems in a most fitting fashion."

"So you're not working alone," challenged Rufus, as he made all of his best efforts to hide any possible signs of weakness.

"Oh, you're just too smart," answered Aldrich, before he wolfishly smiled at President Shinra again. "Tell me… Pretty, exactly how much about Reno's past do you know?" he asked, and crawled a little closer on his knees after taking a look around and smiling to himself as he watched his own partners leave the room.

Then he lowered his voice and crept even closer, enough to cross his arms over Rufus' lap and rested his head on them while tilting his gaze towards the young blonde, "I'm curious…"

"I believe in purpose, Reno," Rufus smoothly said into my ear, before he slid his arm around my stomach and pulled me closer to him. "Without purpose…" Pausing long enough to brush his lips along the outer edge of my ear and move his hand down to the front of my hip, "There is no reason to exist."

"That black'n white, huh?"

"Mm… That black and white."

"That black'n white…" I muttered, lost in my thoughts for a moment over why in the hell nothing ever went right in my life.

I had about twenty minutes, I figured, as I stood there staring through that frozen and cold pane of glass in Rufus' office, overlooking the world that I never really wanted to be a part of. At least, I never wanted to be a part of it until Rufus…

"Heh… I fail to see what the purpose to my existence would be."

"Perhaps you weren't meant to."

Maybe what Rufus really meant to say was that, perhaps I didn't want to. Even though I always said I was going to die protecting him, maybe I just never really wanted to believe it. Maybe he filled me with enough hope to make me believe that there was more to my life than just being a disposable tool at another's whim. Maybe I still wanted to believe it. Maybe that was why I called Cloud. Maybe it gave me some sense of hope, regardless of how hopeless it all felt.

Who the hell else was I going to call?

The SOLDIERs were useless, and so were the MPs. I couldn't ask Elena, and I knew I couldn't do it by myself. All that was left was Cloud, because the only others that I could have relied on were already with Rufus.

After he hung up on me with a tone that said he really didn't want to be a part of what I was asking of him, and that he'd need some time to get together some extra help, I dropped the PHS and screamed at the top of my lungs with my hands pressed to the window while falling to my knees and choking.

How many more lives was I even capable of ruining?

Twenty minutes to do Gaia-knew-what after I hung up on the young SOLDIER when he said he'd meet me outside. Twenty minutes to gather myself and pull myself together. Twenty minutes to torture myself with whatever thoughts I could come up with.

From what I knew and remembered, Aldrich couldn't feel any pain. Due to what Hojo had done to him, he was on a steady degradation of sensation and wound up left with nothing. It was what made him more and more cruel with each year that passed. Because he couldn't feel, he got off on watching other's feel what he couldn't.

It was nothing more than sheer bitterness over that which he could no longer experience. And like all things, the good went along with the bad. He went so cold inside because of the deadness on the outside, that he could only find warmth through making everyone else suffer.

The more he could make an external entity feel, the more he could indulge in what it must feel like. He'd become insatiably hungry for sensation… anyone's sensation.

That's what made him dangerous.

After a brief, abysmal walk through the treacherous cavern of thoughts in my mind, I suddenly realised that I didn't really have the time to be strolling down memory lane. In fact, I didn't really have the time to be doing much of anything. But as it was, it seemed like that was all I had – time. That's how it is though – you get it when you least want it.

But enough of that, there were more important things that I needed to deal with. Namely, I needed to consider the fact that Rufus had probably not taken his medication or even eaten due to the fact that Aldrich would most-likely never tend to his needs. The thought of him in Aldrich's hands made me ill beyond reason, and as necessary as it was to consider the possibilities, I really didn't want to be thinking of them.

I also needed to consider the fact that the others were tortured or worse, possibly even dead.

Then there was the worst question of all, and I didn't even think of it until I ran past Elena's apartment on my way to my own. I stopped dead in front of her door with my hand twitching by my side… do I tell her? After all, Tseng was with Rufus.

She just had a child… Would it be right of me to not involve her?

The thought of catching her attention was the only thing that stopped me from throwing a hysterical fit right then and there in the middle of the damned hallway, and I nearly fell over from the dizzying array of thoughts that were consuming me enough to actually feel them. I couldn't tell her. I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Because I didn't know how.

Instead, I found myself running into my apartment and tying back my hair, while rummaging through the cupboards to see if Rufus had any spare pills. I came up with no such luck though, and I ran into the kitchen to grab some food. Then I ran down to the infirmary to raid his Doctor's supplies. Surely enough, he'd have a surplus, and luckily he did.

He also had Mako shots…

Standing there frozen again, I wound up staring at them and knowing that I shouldn't have even been considering what I was considering.

Erryn calmed my system down with those pills of hers which I unfortunately took shortly before the call of a lifetime, and as unstable as my limit was, Ren had the speed and reflexes that I didn't quite have. If I gave myself a shot, I could possibly trigger my system into an overload, which in turn, could trigger Ren back into an unstable existence that played on the verge of my awareness. Was I in the right state of mind to even contemplate such a thought?

Probably not…

Two seconds, maybe three passed, and I reached into my pocket before I took a large swig of whatever the hell it was that I put into my flask. Then I licked my lips before I contemplated how long it would take to kick in and wiped at the bead of sweat breaking out above my brow before shakily grabbing one of the shots with my other hand.

Gaia… Please help me… I begged, while looking upward and tapping my foot in relentless despair. I know I've never had faith… but please…

Please, please, please… help me save him…

"Uuurrrnnnnggghhhh!"

I only had twenty minutes, not even. I'd probably wasted at least ten, maybe more. After groaning to myself from a personal and unforgiving agony, I told myself I didn't have time to take the damn shot and dropped it to the floor before crushing it beneath my boot.

"I can do this," I told myself through my teeth, and checked to make sure that my mag-rod was completely loaded with every possible edge I could use to benefit myself. "I don't fuckin need ya, Ren."

"That's what Aldrich'll be countin on. He'll want me ta lose control." With a bitter chuckle, I twirled the rod in my hand before hitching it back onto my belt, "An I ain't gonna give 'im anythin that 'e wants."

There he was. Sitting on his bike outside, waiting for me across the street like he said he would when I made my way outside the building. He didn't turn to look at me and simply nodded when I seated myself on the bike behind him while meekly whispering that I was sorry. Then I wrapped my arms around his waist for support.

Without a word, he nodded again and stiffened up, keeping his attention in front of him before hitting the acceleration. Maybe it was just easier for him to pretend that he wasn't doing what I was asking him to do. Maybe it was just easier for him to pretend that I didn't really exist, and that I wasn't really behind him, hanging onto him, and asking him to save someone that he never saw any worth to saving.

Maybe it was easier for us both to just keep quiet.

We said all we needed to say to each other anyway. I told him on the phone where we needed to go, and I told him what I wanted from him. He told me he didn't want me coming and that he'd take care of it on his own. Only, I refused to listen, and he refused to continue arguing with me when I made it clear that I'd wind up there one way or another; with or without his help. There was nothing else that we could have said that would have made things any easier or better than what they were.

"I understand that the blue-eyed devil gave you quite the tormenting run when you were younger."

Aldrich stood with his back to the President and inhaled from his cigarette while crossing his arms and watching the cameras. He couldn't have possibly cared less about the young blonde's presence at that moment.

Yet, at the same time, he couldn't help but entertain his darker side, which was more why he was interested in simply letting the young man succumb to his own illness rather than help in aiding him to avoid such a slow end. However, he wasn't exactly opposed to making his captive's stay uncomfortable. He just wasn't interested in killing him like he was ordered to do yet.

Suddenly curious by the words spoken from the still-standing redhead, Rufus managed to pull himself away from his self-trained introversion and back into a place where physical pain had a greater presence. It was something he was used to though. So it was simple enough to ignore.

With a snort and another drag to his cigarette, Aldrich remained in his statuesque stance and began to talk with a distant air. "If there was ever anyone that knew how to fuck with someone's head and emotions, it was Ren…" With another snort, he turned to stare down at the President who was successfully closing himself off again, "You would know all about that though, wouldn't you? From what I've learned, the little blue-eyed demon played quite a number on you as well."

"Blue-eyed demon," Rufus repeated, with no hint of discomfort in his voice as the flood of memories came back to him. He'd always found Reno's eyes to be the most intriguing enigma he'd ever set sight on, the way that the colours almost seemed alive in them, and he'd always wondered why they changed colour the way that they did. But it never dawned on him as to why.

Lowly chuckling at the response he'd finally gotten from the younger man, Aldrich stepped closer and lowered himself to his knees in front of the young blonde. Then, with his head tilted so his hair fell over his patched eye, he confided in a softer tone while running his fingers along Rufus' smooth cheekbone towards the hairline before the ear. "Yes… His eyes were always a tell-tale sign of who you were dealing with."

After pausing to take a drag from his cigarette, he raised his brow while studying the President for any signs of discomfort. "They always turned blue whenever Ren took over."

Then sighing before turning his attention to the far right passed Rufus' shoulder, his own eye slightly changed to a darker shade before he smiled and looked back at his young captive.

"It took me a few years to figure it out. I didn't know why he'd throw himself at me one moment and play me like he knew what I wanted and was thinking, and then act like the thought of being with me was the most disturbing thing for him to deal with," he confided, while gently stroking the young blonde's hair behind his ear.

"He drove me mad, young Rufus…" he said. Then with a wolfish grin, he pressed the pad of his index finger to the tip of Rufus' nose as he added with a sickly delight, "Just like he did to you.

"Although in his defence, it wasn't really his fault. He never was the same after what Hojo did to him." He almost sounded compassionate when he spoke. That was, until he grabbed a light handful of Rufus' hair by the temple and pulled it out by the root before bitterly chiding through his teeth, "But then again… neither was I."

While observing the hair in his hand with disgust, he let it fall to the lap of his captive and frowned over the fact that Rufus responded with no satisfying reaction and turned to sit on the floor with his back against the President's knees. "I find our predicament interesting, Rufus.

"You've spent your whole life trying to turn your feelings off, and I've spent mine trying to turn them on, and yet we both fell sucker for the same back-stabbing little mind-fucker." Chuckling at the thought, the redhead pulled out another cigarette to light it, and stared at the flame on his match with a subtle fascination, "Because he knows how to play people."

Then with a sudden dead wash, as his eye suddenly shadowed over again, he pushed himself off the floor and walked behind the young President to place the palms of his hands on either side of Rufus' temples to tilt his head forcefully back.

With his cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth, he lowered his face close to the younger man's, being careful not to let the tip of the cigarette touch him. "I actually learned a few things from the way that blue-eyed menace toyed with me," he confided with a lower voice, "And I'm willing to bet that I can get a better rise out of you than Daddy ever did by using your own lover's tactics."

When we met our destination – the Highwind – Cloud grabbed my wrists roughly to make me let go of him and coldly pushed me back from him, still refusing to turn or say a word as a sign to tell me to get off his bike and board Cid's ship. Following behind him, and lowering my head at the disapproving glare of his friends who all had me as a black mark in their books, I cursed silently to myself and grabbed a cigarette to try and keep my mind occupied from the company that saw me as an unwelcome guest.

AVALANCHE…

It was all of them, almost. Reeve and Nanaki didn't seem to be present for whatever reasons they may have had. They were all Shinra's greatest enemy at one time, and even though most of us had overcome our differences, there was still a strong sense of animosity that hung in the air. The only one that seemed to be compassionate enough was Tifa, despite the fact that she had no idea why Cloud would have asked them for their help in regards to such a task.

Cid was the second easiest to deal with in regards to his presence since he'd been doing runs for Shinra ever since the Remnants were taken care of, and then there was Vincent. Vincent may not have liked Shinra or anything related to it for reasons that made perfect sense to me, but for some strange reason, he saved Tseng and Elena's lives on his own and without anyone asking him to when they were tortured by the Remnants, which kind of led me to believe that he may not have been too difficult to persuade, even though I didn't exactly know why.

But he did, after-all, work as one of Shinra's own Turks at one time. That was of course, before he fell in love with Hojo's wife and became the perfect candidate for Hojo's chaos project. I wasn't about to try and verify any of my thoughts in regards to his decisions though. It was bad enough that I completely overstepped any possible bounds that any of them may have laid out.

As far as the others were concerned, Yuffi and Barret, I was nothing more than a lamb to the slaughter, or better yet, a lamb that deserved to be slaughtered. And whatever the hell Cloud said to them to persuade them to help out was beyond even my own imagination.

The look of judgement they regarded me with was enough to remind me that even though we'd all worked together, sort of, in the past that I was still nothing more than a Turk to them, nothing more than a Shinra henchman – a kidnapper and a murderer. They were probably right though, so I ignored them and took a drag from my cigarette while walking passed them and making my way down to the Galley to see what kind of alcoholic bliss Cid had hiding down there.

It wasn't really because I wanted a drink. It was because I just didn't want to be around them and needed some sort of excuse to occupy my thoughts.

"Gonna be a long trip," I muttered to myself, while rummaging through his small fridge, "What the fuck was I thinkin?"

"I told them what Reeve told me," Cloud said quietly from behind me. He must have followed me down, "That Shinra was making its best attempt to correct its past mistakes."

"They believed ya?" I asked, with my back still to him after I found an exotic beer and opened it.

"Not really," he answered, and came up behind me to take the beer out of my hand while mumbling that, "That's not going to help your cause much." Then he pulled me into his arms and held me while I clung to him like a fucking child.

"I did'n know who else ta ask," I muttered into his shoulder, while he stroked my hair and attempted to soothe me.

"Just promise me that you're not going to do anything foolish once we get there," he quietly said, and rocked me a little, "Promise me you're not going to try and be a hero."

While hungrily watching the outside monitors to the facility, the one-eyed redhead lit another cigarette and let the match carelessly fall to the floor. Then he removed his tie and undid the uppermost buttons on his dark grey shirt to release the constraint around his neck before removing his jacket.

"I see you've brought friends, Renault," he muttered, as he watched the Highwind land on the nearby grounds. "AVALANCHE… This is just too good to be true."

Then he dialled a number on his PHS and let the man on the other end know that things might actually be working out better than expected. After that, he chuckled as he hung up and turned his attention back to the young President.

"Well, well, well… Sweet Rufus," he said, while he took a good look at the other Turks to make sure they were still unconscious, "It looks like your beautiful lover has brought none other than his other lover to help him rescue you."

With his trademark wolfish smile, he crept over to his captive and placed his hands on the President's shoulders from behind. Then he chuckled with a morbid fascination as he knelt behind him so that his mouth was at the young man's ear and whispered with a sickly satisfaction, "Exactly how does that make you feel?"

"Satisfied," was all that Rufus said as he attempted to work at loosening the knots in the rope that he couldn't seem to break on his own. As far as the young blonde was concerned, he wasn't going to indulge in his abuser's delights by letting him know that he was bothered more than words could express.

"Oh?" Aldrich asked, and started to massage Rufus' shoulders, sliding his hands more forward with each movement and whispered, "You mean… you don't mind that he let that masculine blonde fuck him from behind when he wouldn't even let you do it?"

Then with another cruel chuckle, he brushed his lips tauntingly against the blonde's ear, and put his cigarette out on the back of the chair. "Personally, I would have been outraged," he said through his teeth, and stood up to walk to the front of his captive with his Cure Materia in his hand. "Would you like to know what I would have done?"

With a deliberately slow and predatory movement, he walked his spidery fingers along Rufus's upper leg and reached into the young blonde's coat pocket to pull out his choke wire, "I'd be more than happy to show you."

We stood outside for far longer than I felt necessary while everyone argued over the best way to go about getting in and getting out with the least amount of damage and attention. Apparently going over it in the Highwind wasn't enough for everyone, and they figured that it would be a nice fucking idea to continue on with their discussion and waste some more time once we landed.

Since I actually had no intention of being part of their plan, I simply scanned the area and ignored them without really letting them know that I was ignoring them, or even that they were irritating the hell out of me.

I wasn't about to interrupt them though. As far as they all knew, Rufus and my co-workers were their only priority, and if they could come up with a fail-proof plan that they all could agree on, then I wasn't about to get in the way of it.

Besides, I may have failed to mention that Aldrich would be there. In fact, I think I may have mentioned to Cloud that it was highly likely he would have left, like the last time. And with that thought in mind, I took a look at the ground's camera and took a swig from my flask before lighting a cigarette.

Yeah, I may very well have misled them a little.

But it was nothing they'd have to worry about. I had no intention of involving them in that plan. Plus, if I had been forthright, Cloud would never have let me get involved.

"Ya'll need ta consider the possibility that the self-destruct will be set in motion after we enter," I said, loud enough for them all to stop their discussion and stare at my back. "The place'll be sealed up once that happens… ta avoid the possibility of contaminatin the area."

Barret was the first one to speak up in regards to that comment, and he didn't sound like he was overly impressed by it either. In fact, he accused me of walking them all to their deaths and aimed his gun-arm at my back.

"Ya got no need ta worry," I muttered, and took another drag from my cigarette while keeping my eyes locked on the camera. "Look at the plans I gave ya's. As a fail-safe, the place'll lock itself up to stop people from enterin." Then I turned away from the camera, so I could scan each and every pair of judging eyes that were set on me. "Shinra ain't a complete tyrant… 'Least not anymore."

With my eyes to the ground to avoid the continuing glares from them, I walked up to the plans that they had laid out, and pointed out that there were emergency exits in place to help protect the employees of Shinra. "Worst case scenario, ya'll all be able to get out through these passages… an as an extra insurance, all the Mako processors an feeds will be sealed off," I said, with a slight tightness to my throat while I pointed out the exits, which of course, led Barret to his next suspicious question.

"If that's the case, then what would be the reason for setting it off in the first place?"

"Ta make sure that ya don't get ta the target." With clenched teeth, I met his distrustful eyes and sneered at him, "An maybe even in hopes that they trap ya in a spot where there are no exits."

"I knew this was a bad idea," he said with a sneer, and lifted his gun-arm at me again, while Tifa muttered calmly to him and placed her hands on his arm to get him to lower it. As usual, she was always willing to hear me out. Not to mention, that she also had a fondness for Rude, who was also held captive within the facility.

"I know the sequence ta shut it down, an we've got forty-five minutes once it starts," I consoled, and grabbed my flask. Then I muttered before taking a drink, "Gonna split up when we enter. Been 'round Shinra most of my life ta know how ta make my way through an disable it."

"You expect us to rely on a hopeless alcoholic?" Barret yelled, and angrily pulled his arm away from Tifa, at the same time that Cloud piped up that he would accompany me, along with a glare that stated he would have preferred it if I'd let him know about my plan earlier.

"I don't need ya ta come with me," I retorted after licking my lips and screwing the cap back onto my flask.

"Reno…" Tifa said quietly, and then she gave Barret a quick and disapproving glare to encourage him to calm down, "It would make the rest of us feel better if one of us went with you." Then she carefully took a look at the others before commenting that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to let Cloud go with me. "That way, if you run into any trouble, you'll have a little help… The rest of us should be fine on our own, and then you can both catch up with us afterwards."

Gaia-damned AVALANCHE!

"Fine… whatever…" I muttered, and took another drag before putting my cigarette out, "Let's get a fuckin move-on then."

When the President was pushed forward as far as his restraints would allow him to move, he was unable to hold back the strong gasp for air as he choked in an attempt to refill his lungs. At the same time, the redhead stood behind him with a cold and dissatisfied turn at the corner of his mouth while letting the choke-wire fall to the floor and muttering, "Cure," again to heal Rufus' throat along with the cuts left on it from the sharpness of the wire.

"Anything like what Daddy used to do to you?" he asked, and pulled out another cigarette to light it, "I understand that you'd never let the old man hear you scream."

"Isn't your Boss going to be upset with you for keeping me alive for so long?" Rufus asked as smoothly as he could after regaining his breath and waiting for the Cure spell to relieve the choking pressure left behind.

Then he smiled as he straightened himself up and almost seemed to find a sense of relief in the relentless punishment that the redhead was bestowing upon him, making the older man angrier by the second and leaving him with as little satisfaction as he could gain.

"Oh, you are an impatient one… But didn't you play out Adrienne's discomfort for as long as you could?"

"I didn't believe that you cared," Rufus answered, and shook off a possible grimace as the first signs of his own system started to turn on him, "If I'd known, I would have invited you to the party."

"Hm," Aldrich muttered, and then he turned his eye to the ceiling, "I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed watching Adrienne turn into Reno… One was bad enough." Then with a wolfish smile, he turned his attention back to the young President, and stared at him with a sickly satisfaction. "I'm surprised you haven't asked me how I know so much about what goes on behind your closed doors."

"I simply assumed that you had an informer planted."

"Ah… assumed… What kind of informer would have known that Daddy used to make you take your clothes off before he beat you…? I wonder…" he mused coldly, and then he pulled out Rufus' knife from his belt to study it.

"Or, here's an even more interesting tidbit that I'm sure you never knew about… Did you know that your father had commissioned your precious lover to wipe you and the man that you had a crush on as a child from the existence of this planet?"

While pointing the knife at the unconscious Wutian positioned to the right of Rufus' back, Aldrich moved closer and ran the point of the knife along the marks he left on the blonde's neck and cruelly smiled. "He would have done it too… and the part that was jealous would have played it out for all it was worth."

Ignoring the taunting words coming from the malicious redhead, Rufus closed his eyes and took a light breath before answering with his typical and unaffected tone, "I don't doubt that for a second."

"Oh, you don't?" asked the redhead, before he cut the top buttons from Rufus' shirt. "I wonder…" With a low purr, he dragged the sharp edge of the knife across Rufus' chest and drew a small amount of blood.

"Did you know then? That it was you he was jealous of? That the only reason that menace threw himself at you and toyed with your emotions when he noticed your attraction to him was to make Tseng jealous and to make you pay for stealing all of his precious mentor's attention?

"He knew your father was beating you because of it… But that was okay… because in Reno's messed up little head, he was getting you out of the picture. He's sick, you know. The minute anyone is nice to him, he develops an obsessive attachment to them and can't stand the thought of sharing them with anyone else. Yet at the same time, he'll do everything in his power to convince himself that he doesn't need or want anyone, and push them as far away from him as he can."

"I believe you'll say anything to get a reaction from me," Rufus answered.

"I take it you enjoy the abuse then," Aldrich replied with a cold bite to his words, "You must just love the way that he makes you think you can have him, maybe even makes you believe that he wants you back… the way that he makes you feel like you could spend the rest of your life with him…

"And every time you think to yourself, this is it… I finally have him… He spits in your face and turns your whole world and everything that you thought was secure upside down.

"You must just love the way that he can tear down all of your strengths and expose all of your weaknesses, and then just leave you there, exposed and open for the hounds to tear apart, while he goes off and tends to his own needs and searches for another victim that he can bend and twist to his own will before leaving them in the same discarded heap of all those left before them. After all, who's he with right now?"

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

With a sarcastic chuckle and a cold emptiness in his eyes, Aldrich wrapped his free hand behind the young President's neck and pushed the blade carefully into the younger man's stomach before pulling it out slowly and wiping the blood across the front of his coat, being careful the whole time not to let the blade twist in any way that could cause more damage than he intended.

"I believe that will stain," he predatorily said, while holding the unfeeling and blue-eyed gaze of the young President and was somewhat disappointed over the fact that the blonde didn't even flinch.

"I don't believe it matters," Rufus answered with the same cool air which reflected the lack of interest or concern that had suddenly washed over him. For the first time in his life, he really didn't think it mattered, and he felt a strange wash of relief over the fact.

With a nod, Aldrich placed the blade neatly across Rufus' lap and pushed himself away from him. "Even if you manage to somehow survive this ordeal," he said with his back to him, and started to walk towards the door, "I believe I should let you know that no one can ever truly trust Reno… not even you… Rufus."

After opening the door and slamming it shut behind him in a fit of frustration, the redhead clumsily banged his head on a protruding pipe from the ceiling that he'd forgotten about, and he wound up cursing over the fact that it knocked him back and made him stumble a bit… for the third time that day, "Fuck!"

It also pissed him off that he didn't feel it at all, and he cursed again, before angrily ordering his men back into the room and making his own way to the control room to prepare for what he had planned.

We were all a little unnerved when we entered the facility. It was too quiet as we moved about in the main area and checked for any possible traps, and the fact that we found nothing unnerved us even more. I found myself taking another drink while the others started to quietly argue amongst themselves over why the hell it was too easy for us to enter.

"Tomb of death," Barret muttered, right before he gave me another hateful glare at the fact that I was just standing there and drinking, "How do we know that Shinra's not in on this?"

"Fer fuck's sake," Cid piped up, and almost lit his cigar before thinking twice about it, "Shinra ain't got no fuckin reason to wanna get rid of us anymore."

With a snort, I screwed the cap back on my flask and placed it back in my pocket, while muttering, "Yeah… We've got bigger worries than a buncha AVALANCHE washouts."

"Reno," Cloud said with a bit of a warning in his voice, and then he glared at Barret to get him to keep his mouth shut as well, "Let's get started… Where's the control room for the alarms?"

"This way," I said, and pointed in the direction while keeping my back to all of them. The sooner I got away from them the better, as far as I was concerned. Of course, I didn't really want Cloud tagging along with me either, but as it was, I didn't really have much of a choice.

With the hairs on the back of my neck standing on edge, I rubbed at the sudden stiffness in my muscles in hopes that the uncontrollable chill running down my spine would go away. Then I turned the dial on my Mag-rod as high as it would go while Cloud pulled out his sword and gave me a suspicious glance.

"He'll have 'em in the Observation room," I muttered, as I moved slightly forward to the hall leading to the control room, "Most damage can be caused there if the Mako goes thermal." After a slight pause, I turned my head slightly to the side, not focusing on anyone in general, and then back. "Ya'll wanna arm yerselves," I mumbled, before I started leading the way with Cloud at my side, "Gonna be more'n one man ta get in the way."

After the shuffling sounds of the others disappeared far enough into the distance not to hear them, Cloud rested his hand on my shoulder to stop me in the middle of the hall. "You do realize that he may already be dead…" he hesitantly started, and then he sympathetically bit on his bottom lip before continuing, "Don't you?"

"Ain't got time ta think 'bout that," I muttered, just as the alarms went off and the barrier door slammed shut behind us. At that moment, I took the moment of surprise and re-adjusted my EMR without Cloud noticing.

"Look, Man," I said, as I started fidgeting around in my pocket for Rufus' medicine, "I… want ya ta take this… jus in case." Then I pulled some of the food I grabbed from my pack as well, "This too… h-he might need it."

Stopping dead and narrowing his eyes at me, he took a deep breath and lowered his sword to his side, before speaking carefully through his teeth, "What the hell are you doing, Reno?"

"N-nothin," I answered, while keeping my head down and frisking myself out for anything that I might have forgotten, "Jus thought that… maybe ya might have a better chance'a gettin ta 'im before me."

"Fuck… Reno…" Stiffening up, Cloud gripped his hand tighter around his sword and brought it up in expectation of whatever stupid plan I had in mind, "Whatever you're planning on… You know I can help you."

Shaking my hand to expel the sudden burst of nervous energy that built up over the stress, I muttered out, "Sorry," just below a breath while looking at the floor, and then I looked him in the eyes before striking the switch for the magnetic field faster than I even thought I was capable of, "But ya can't."

"Damn it, Reno!" he yelled from inside the amber encasement, "You're making a mistake!"

"It's what I'm good at," I muttered, as I dug around in my breast pocket for the keycard that I copied after stealing it from Rufus' office when we first moved into the building. Then I licked my lips and moved quickly to the pyramid and placed my hand over where Cloud's face was. "When I said ya were a mistake…" I started, and then I jerked my head to the side toward my shoulder, but I kept my eyes sincerely on him, "I lied."

Knowing full-well that the cameras were on and that Rufus most-likely had a front-row seat to the monitors, I moved closer to the pyramid and apologized again, before planting a kiss where Cloud's mouth would have been if we weren't separated by the solidified magnetic field.

"I never meant ta hurt no one," I choked out with a rasp, and then I shut my eyes tight for a moment to flush out my emotions before pushing myself back to run to the end of the hall after pointing at the objects I left on the floor for Rufus, "Make sure Rufus gets those!"

Then I ran to the sealed door that blocked us off from the control room with the keycard in my hand and swiped it through while praying that the damned thing still worked. When I was rewarded with a positive response and the door slid open, I stepped into the room and placed my hand on the panel to close it after me.

But before I hit any buttons, I pulled out my .33 and aimed it at Cloud. "Rufus ain't that bad, Cloud…" I said, and pulled back the safety, "Give 'im a chance."

With a false smile, I pulled the trigger to break the barrier and then hit the panel to seal the door behind me while muttering, "Sorry ta bring ya'll inta this."

"Reno!" he yelled, and jumped forward to try and beat the door to get to me, "Reno! You stupid ass!"

Wincing at the sound of the pounding and yelling on the other side, I stood there for a moment with my eyes closed, before shaking my head to shake it off.

Suck it up, ya stupid shit, I told myself, and then I pushed myself away from the door and ran to the panel to shut off the self-destruct so the others would be able to get into the Observation room to save the others, Ya ain't that important. Pressing the buttons frantically with the code I memorized from the plans, I managed to shut the system down and get the inner doors open before something hard was pressed to the front of my neck from behind.

"How selfless of you, Reno," came a low voice purring into my ear, "Making your lover jealous so that he won't care about the fact that you'll never make it out of here alive?"

Then he chuckled and pressed the mag-rod he took from me at Icicle Inn harder against my throat, as I gripped my hands below it to ease the pressure. "I know you know that Rufus is able to see everything. I can't say I'm surprised that you'd use that poor, young, blonde SOLDIER to achieve your goal though."

Gasping for air and pressing my back farther into his chest, I choked out, "Can't be any worse than any of the shit you probably told him."

Snickering at me with a low rumble, he eased his grip and pushed me forward into the wall, bringing his knee up into my spine. "Really?" he calmly asked, and cracked the rod across my upper back as I cried out, "I thought the story about you being in love with Tseng kind of got to him."

"You sick fuck!"

"I prefer to think of myself as creative and inventive," he said with a playful tone, and then he grabbed me by the hair and dragged me roughly over to the observation window. Warranting a sharp yelp from me, I wound up pressed forcefully into the shatter-proof glass as AVALANCHE made their way into the room.

Chuckling into my ear as a tattered Rufus turned his empty eyes toward us, he hissed into my ear through his teeth, "Tell me what you think of my work, lover-boy."

"What the fuck have you done to them?"

"Oh, don't worry… I only played with them a little," he answered, and ran his tongue offensively along the side of my face while I tried to scrunch away from him with my hands pressed to the glass to try and simultaneously push myself away while Rufus had the perfect seat to watch.

"I didn't want to spoil the grand finale by killing them all. But I'm afraid that gash in your sweetheart's stomach might do a little more damage to your beautiful lover than it would have done to someone whose system wasn't turning on them."

"AAAGGGHHH!" I screamed with a sudden sense of urgency, and managed to push myself back with enough force to push him away from me while swinging my rod at him and cracking him across the shoulder, "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Then I hit the switch to the current and zapped him with it before I doubled over, choking.

With a sickly laugh at me, he grabbed me by the hair when I fell to the floor. "Now, now, Renault, whatever made you think that would have an effect on me?" he coldly said, as he pulled me off the floor with enough force to make me fly off my feet for a moment before regaining my footing, "You should know that what Hojo did to me left me with very little of myself!"

"LET GO!"

"Screaming like that will only wreck that beautiful voice of yours," he said, while still laughing at me and slamming me back into the window, where I saw Cloud enter the room from the opposite entrance of his partners and look quickly up at where Aldrich and I were before Aldrich's partners encircled them all.

"What the fuck does it matter," I muttered as he wrapped his hand around my tail and pulled me back into him, "You brought me here to kill me, didn't you?"

"Actually, I brought you here so you could watch what happens to those that betray him," he angrily answered, and pulled me back hard, making me stumble and hit the button to release the blade in my rod so I could cut my tail away in a panic.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked with an overwhelmingly broken voice as I brought the blade back to release myself from his unrelenting hold.

With a sudden stop as he stood there, stunned and staring at the handful of hair in his hand, he shrugged and then narrowed his eye while stuffing it in his pocket, stating that it would make a good keepsake once the ordeal was all over and done with. Then he grabbed me by the shoulders and slammed me against the wall by the control panel.

"You know what the hell I'm talking about!" he shouted into my face, and kneed me hard in the groin, "Don't fucking tell me you don't remember!"

Trying to fight the tears in my eyes away from the fucking pain of his unexpected blow, my hands automatically wound up clamoured in that place where I felt like my world would not only begin… but also end, and I would have doubled over if it wasn't for him holding me up. It didn't stop me from nearly throwing up on him though while he wolfishly smiled at me and drank in my every reaction.

"So, that's your fucking tourist from Kalm?" I gasped out, and managed to bring my feet high enough to kick him back by using the wall and his grip as my leverage, right before he attempted to re-establish the self-destruct again, "You gonna tell me he's still pissed at me for joining the Turks sixteen fucking years ago?"

"Pissed would be an understatement, Reno."

Without a warning, he brought the rod down across my shoulder and then grabbed my hair at the side of my head to reel me back into him, "You remember what kind of temper he has… Don't you?"

"Heh… lucky fer ya… ya ain't got no feelins no more, eh? Hun?" I chuckled, while pushing myself on my toes in a light dance to alleviate the pressure of my hair being pulled upward.

"Very. Fucking. Funny."

With a dry response accompanied by a sneer, he flung me onto the console in the middle of the room and zapped me with a low current.

"Nice Slum Drawl, by the way… it's very cute," he commented, as he jumped over me in my suddenly stunned state and crouched above my waist while gripping his fingers into my sides and forcefully turning me onto my back, "But you're not fooling anyone, Reno… considering the fact that you always lose it when you're angry."

"Whatever… Like you're fucking perfect."

"It's funny that there's actually something you're more ashamed of than the Slums," he mused, running his fingers lightly along my jaw, "How much I miss your twisted ways, and the fact that you'd rather have everyone believe that you were nothing but a good-for-nothing deviant rather than have to admit to the fact that you let him educate you."

"Gaia…" I breathed out from exhaustion, waiting for the use of my muscles to return in full from that damn shock, "You're a Son of a Bitch."

"I wouldn't know," he purred, bringing his face closer to mine and brushing my hair out of my eyes, "I was too young to remember."

With some of my motor skills returning to a controllable state, I started to try and shakily turn myself over so that I could crawl the hell away from him, but I wound up slinking myself upwards instead while he crawled over top of me with his antagonizing wolfish grin to keep us in the same position with each other. "It was his men that fucked us," I grimaced, when I made it to the edge with a willingness to land on the floor, head first.

"You think I didn't know that?"

"I would've thought you'd have better sense than to fucking work for him after that," I accused through my teeth, and pushed him upward at a moment of opportunity and twisted myself around before landing on the floor.

"That's funny," he answered, while peering down at me on the floor from his position on the console while he stayed there on all fours, staring at me like a curious animal, "You can't possibly be serious."

With a snort, I repeated the word, "Serious," and stumbled to my feet before turning my venomous attention over to him, "Ya must'a liked it then."

"Liked what?"

"The things 'e did ta ya," I said, with a dark grin while tilting my head forward so I could lift my eyes in his direction, "Ya can't possibly tell me that 'e never laid a hand on ya after everythin 'e let 'is men do ta us." Snickering at him, I bared my teeth and ran my tongue along the top row, "Somethin tells me 'e was inta that."

"Shut up."

"Whatsa matter, Peaches… Ya finally found out what it felt like?" I taunted, and grinned more toothily at him while backing up towards the wall behind me, "Did ya like it?" Then I lowered my voice, and changed my expression to a sudden seriousness with a tilt to my head, and stared at him with a dead mimicry, "Did ya… relax?"

"Gaia damn it, Ren!" he growled at me, and then he dived off the console and came straight at me, "You wanna talk about bad decisions?"

After a swift crack of his rod against the wall by my head that I managed to avoid just in time, he violently pushed me to the side, sending me flying back into the glass. "Who the hell decided that they'd work for the fucking Turks?" he reminded me, and swung at me again, as I blocked it with my own rod.

"Or better yet!" With his face right in mine after he spun me around by my jacket, he smiled insanely and widened his eye for effect while lowering his voice, "And this one is my personal favourite…" Then he practically lifted me off the floor and threw me back onto the console in the middle of the room again and furiously pointed his finger at me while he yelled in a feral and predatory frenzy.

"Who the hell decided that they'd work for that perverted scientist, Hojo, after everything that he did to us!"

With another quick movement, I managed to block another one of his blows that would have definitely cracked more than one of my ribs if I wasn't ready for it while letting out a small shout. "I wasn't fucking working for him, you dumb piece of shit!" I grimaced, while trying to hold off his insane force that was threatening to hit me with the tip of that damned rod again.

"Bullshit!" Sneering, he pushed harder so that the tip was almost touching my neck, "You did fucking runs for him, Renault!"

"Runs… schmuns…" Laughing at my own stupidity all of the sudden while rolling my eyes, I let go of my rod long enough to kiss him on the mouth unexpectedly, and slip my tongue inside in an attempt to shock his weight off of me so I could kick him back.

It worked…

"You fucking faggot, Renault!" he yelled at me, while I straightened my jacket in the small window of time I had just to avoid another strike from him.

"Heh… Ya fuckin liked it, Man…" Still laughing at him, I caught through the corner of my eye that the observation room was suddenly empty.

Well… almost, and I realised that AVALANCHE may have already managed to get Rufus and the Turks to safety. Not that I really had any doubts.

"Those all your dead men?" I asked, and jerked my head toward the window with a grin on my face.

"Yes," he said with a sudden calm, as he stopped still and stared off into space for a moment with a completely blank and unreadable expression. Then, like a snake about to strike, he maliciously grinned and ran his tongue along his bottom lip before quickly darting over to the panel to set the self-destruct mode back on, "But yours will be joining them!"

Confused at first, I took a quick glance over to where Aldrich was staring and realized that he wasn't staring off into space at all. The son of a bitch was staring at the reflection of the monitors on the glass at the opposite end of the room he had my fellow Shinra co-workers in, and they were still in the heart of the building, "Fuck!"

Chuckling when I struck him across the back with my rod and spun him away from the panel, he grabbed me quickly by the waist and held me to him to keep me from aborting the sequence. "You never learn, do you?" he playfully said into my ear, "Can I confide in something?"

"I ain't interested."

"Mm. I do miss these little moments. We used to have so many of them," he purred, and pulled me closer into his chest while I cringed and tried to get out of his enhanced grip. "I'm not too sure what I think of you with short hair though," he suddenly said, and threw me into the wall before tilting his head and backhanding me hard enough to send me flying to the floor, "I don't think it suits you."

"You're a fucking prick," I muttered, while wiping the blood from my mouth and pushing myself back up to my feet. At the same time, I stole a quick look at the reflection of the monitors in the other room to make sure that the others were in an accessible area to the emergency exits and hoping to high hell that he didn't notice me looking.

"Everyone's a fucking prick," he repeated, with an unimpressed snort.

Just then, he grabbed me by the hair at the top of my head and lifted me quickly off my feet while catching the glimpse that I took and stole a look for himself. "Do they know that it doesn't matter whether they escape or not?" he asked, with a curious grin on his face while looking me up and down, "Did you bother to tell them that your precious lover bypassed the security to set the whole area thermal when this place goes? To ensure that all the evidence of this place was completely destroyed?"

"Ya think I should'a?" I playfully answered, attempting to brush off the extreme discomfort I was in.

"Still the reliable little liar." With a cruel smile, he pulled me closer to him while I smiled mischievously at him, "You never will change, will you?"

"Would'na helped me if I told 'em the truth."

"You think?"

With a shrug, I stuck my tongue out at him and then hit the switch on my rod to bring out the blade while swinging him around to the wall and slamming the blade through him, hard enough to lodge it into the wall behind him. "They were already suspicious enough as it was," I answered, with my back to him as I ran over to the console in the middle of the room.

"Really?" Chuckling again, he merely looked down at the blade that was lodged through him and shrugged at the recognition that he was stuck before pulling out a cigarette and lighting it with a match, "Why would anyone ever be suspicious of you?"

Ignoring him, I started emptying all the vats to clear the Mako out of the building in hopes that It would drain far enough away to ensure that it was only the building that would be destroyed. As an added precaution, I disabled all the fusers that I knew of in the building that could possibly ignite any remaining Mako that may not make it out on time.

"You know…" he started, while ignoring my frantic moving about, and watching the reflection of the monitors again, "Your lover doesn't look too thrilled about having your SOLDIER-boy's arms around him." After a brief pause to take a drag from his cigarette, he started snickering and turned his attention over to me as I ran over to the panel for the self destruct, "In fact, he almost looks like he wants to kill him."

"Shut up, Haldric," I said through my teeth, while silently hoping that nothing bad would transpire between the two of them once everything was all over and done with, even though I had strong doubts about it.

Then I muttered that they'd be fine in an attempt to alleviate my own concerns, and I managed to shut off the self-destruct again. But I took a few moments beforehand to ensure that the alarm stayed on in hopes that it would encourage AVALANCHE to continue on their mission to get Shinra to a safe enough distance.

From the looks of things, AVALANCHE had used some of their Materia and maybe even elixirs and potions to bring the others back to consciousness and even heal the cut in Rufus' stomach, but the Shinra side of things was still heavily damaged and nowhere near any condition to attempt to defend themselves should they run into anymore trouble.

Of course, Aldrich wasn't lying about the look on Rufus' face either, and I found myself pausing for a moment with my eyes shut in hopes that maybe I could will that miserable son of a bitch to not do anything stupid.

He may have been strong, even in the state he was in. But given the fact that he was in the state he was in, he was no fucking match for Cloud at that given moment, despite whatever hateful and vengeful thoughts were running through his head. The fact that he had to rely on Cloud and was in his arms for support at that moment too, was only going to escalate matters as well.

But there was nothing I could do about it.

"It's Aldrich now," he corrected with a sneer, and took another drag while still watching the monitors, "He figured it would suit me well to get a new identity after everything that happened."

Nodding, I grabbed his cigarette from him and took a drag before handing it back. "Ya still think I was wrong to run?" I asked, while watching the monitors along with him.

"No," he said with a sigh, and stared at the rod in his stomach for a moment after I set the self-destruct on it. Then he looked at me while taking another drag, and calmly asked, "How long do I have?"

"Elena set it to thirty minutes," I answered, and pulled out my own cigarette while still watching the monitors, "So, I changed it to fifteen."

Snickering at me, he took another drag and leaned his head against the wall, "You always were impatient."

"Yeah… Well, I hate wasting time."

After taking another drag, I took note of everyone leaving the building successfully. From the looks of things, the moment they hit the outside grounds, they all started arguing, and Cloud pushed Rufus to the ground before turning to re-enter the building, while Rufus stumbled stubbornly to his feet and grabbed Vincent's gun from his holster. "Fuck," I muttered, and quickly ran to the panel to completely seal the building off.

"Isn't that sweet… Lover number two is going to try to rescue you, while lover number one is going to try and shoot him in the back." Chuckling again, he took another drag and studied me curiously for a moment, "Aren't you going to run out there and try to rescue them both from your fuck-ups?"

"They can take care of themselves," I muttered, while scratching at the back of my neck, "The others will intervene." Then I turned my attention back to Aldrich with a bit of a wry grin, "They're as predictable as Sephiroth was in trying to destroy the world."

Unable to hide his confusion, he narrowed his eye at me, and then looked back down at the rod. "You're kidding me, right?" he asked, and took another drag, "You're not going to stay 'til the bitter end."

"Been around long enough to know that the bad guy always gets away at the last moment," I answered seriously, while staring at the monitors again and taking a drag from my own cigarette, "Gonna make sure it don't happen this time."

Then, kicking my toe at the floor, I watched a little longer while shaking my head at Cloud trying to find a way back in, and Barret aiming his gun-arm at Rufus while Tifa tried to calm him down and Tseng stumbled toward Rufus to calm him down and get him to lower the gun he stole from the ex-Turk.

In the meantime, Vincent didn't really seem to care about the fact that his gun was taken and grabbed Yuffi by the shoulder to hold her back from pouncing on Rufus as well. "The Meteor shouldn't cause an area-wide effect… They should all be all right," I muttered, in an attempt to set my mind at ease, "It'll just be us… an the building."

"You fucking dumb shit," he said with another chuckle, and rested his hand on the rod, "You honestly expect me to believe that you're not going to run at the last moment?" Taking another drag, he blew the smoke out from his nose and tilted his head forward. "That's all you ever do, Renault. You run… You run from everything."

"Reno…" I reminded him, and then I added, "Not this time."

After that, I turned my attention back over to the panel and double-checked to make sure that all the entrances were completely sealed while resignedly muttering out, "I'm tired, Aldrich."

Then I looked back over to the monitor and wondered why the hell they weren't getting as far away from the facility as they should have, "I'm tired of running…"

The only hope I held at that moment was in the others as I watched some of the smarter members of both sides dragging the more emotional ones away. It was against their wills and in an attempt to get to a safe enough distance while I sighed out, "Tired of lying…" Then I put my cigarette out as Aldrich did the same and I pulled out my flask to take a drink. "I'm tired of dragging everyone I come across down with me."

"You fell in love with him, didn't you?"

"Wasn't supposed to."

"No… You were supposed to kill his father and Tseng."

"Yeah, well… you know how I change my mind."

"I know how you play with minds."

"Whatever… it was worth the price."

"Even when he sent Kurn in after you?"

"Yeah… can't say I wasn't surprised that you used that one to your own advantage though."

"Yes, well, he never expected Rufus to live as long as he did. You know how much he wanted to bring Shinra down."

"Yeah."

For a brief moment we both just stood there and stared at each other without really feeling anything toward the other. Devoid of both hate and acceptance, we just kind of accepted the fact that we never really had a choice to begin with. There was no point in even entertaining the thought as to what things would have been like if our lives had been any different, or even forgiving.

"Why did you lead me to believe you were dead all those years?" I finally asked, and tilted my head. I figured it was just as good a question as any, really.

"Because I never wanted to see you again." With a deep sigh, he looked down to see how much time was left and then he shrugged, "Despite all the bad things that happened to us, you always wound up on top for some reason… I always wound up on the bottom… I hated you for it."

"Ya still hate me?"

"Yes."

Nodding again and looking at the floor after taking note that we only had thirty seconds left, I stole one last look at the monitors, "This must make you happy then."

"Not really," he bitterly answered.

Catching my curious attention, he moved faster than I could have anticipated. Not to mention that I just didn't see it coming, nor did I expect it. I don't even think that what he said to me really sunk in. "Because the last thing that I want to do is spend the rest of fucking eternity with you!" he growled, as he swung the rod in his hand toward my direction.

The last thing that I saw right after the detonator struck and before the bright, crashing light was amber, and I distinctly recall yelling something along the lines like "Haldric! You dumb shit!"

…Or something like that.

Revised: August 15, 2010