All for Love

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Part 1: Chapter 4: Reno's SOLDIER Story

Reno walked out of the Shinra building into the cold midnight air. He stopped right before the steps outside and took a deep breath, looking up at the sky.

"Hey! Are you coming or not?" The red head heard a voice shout him. He smiled and tilted his head back down. Adrienne was sat on a bench just outside the building. She smiled at him and cocked her head to the side. "Well?" She asked, reminding him of the question she asked in the first place.

"You didn't have to wait for me you know." He told her as he sat down on the bench.

"Yeah, like I'd do that." He giggled a little. "I've only been sat here five minutes."

"Oh, now I feel wanted." Reno pouted, trying to make the girl feel bad. It didn't work, she just giggled some more.

"Anyway get this. My mum's gone away on business somewhere, Junon I think. I was wondering if you wanted to come and stop?" She asked him.

"Sure." He said smiling. "Beats the SOLDIER dorms any day." She grinned, dragging the red head as she jumped off the bench.

"Well come on then."

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The red head sat on the edge of a cream leather sofa in the living room of the Arishima household. He sat twiddling his thumbs. Even though Scarlet wasn't there, he still felt a bit uneasy. He sighed. All of the crap this afternoon with Sephiroth made him think about why he was in SOLDIER in the first place. He frowned. He didn't like being reminded about that. He looked at the floor between his legs.

"What's up? You look a little down." Addy asked from the doorway of the room. Reno didn't look up. The strawberry blonde girl frowned, walking up to the sofa and sitting down next to the red head.

"Why did you join SOLDIER?" He asked her quietly. Adrienne blinked. She didn't expect him to ask her that. She thought about it for a minute or two.

"As far as I can remember, me and Elly always wanted to be something more than stupid little girls that freaked at the nearest spider. We promised ourselves when we were little, that we would join SOLDIER one day." She smiled at the memory. "And we managed it. I have no idea how though." She looked at Reno who was still looking at the floor. "Why did you?"

"I didn't want to. I was forced to join." He whispered quietly. She looked at the floor.

"There something more to it than that, I can tell." She told him. He sighed shakily.

"I don't want to talk about it." He said a bit harsher than he intended. Addy frowned at him. She stood up.

"Fine then! I don't care!" She spun around to leave the room when she felt a hand grab her wrist. She turned her head back to see Reno looking at her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you." He let go of the wrist and let his arm fall to his side. She sat back down next to him.

"Maybe it would help if you told someone." She said softly. They sat in silence for a while, Reno still looking at the floor while Addy looked at her boyfriend.

"I'm afraid you'll think less of me when I tell you." He whispered. She looked at him surprised. She stood up, bending down in front of him. She lifted his hand up with her fingertips.

"Nothing could make me think any less of you. It's in the past ok?" He smiled slightly.

"You know, I don't deserve you." She leaned up and pecked him on the lips.

"Of course you don't honey." She laughed a little. Reno continued to smile.

"Alright I'll tell you. Might want to stop crouching in front of me though. The story is kind of long." She smiled and moved back to sit next to him. He sighed. She squeezed his hand.

"You need to get it out." He sighed and started his story.

"When I lived in the slums, I used to be in one of the gangs down there. I practically grew up with some of the guys I lived with most of the time. We'd do odd jobs for money and stuff like that. I was given a separate job to the rest of the guys once from this wealthy guy on the plate.......

~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~

A sixteen year old boy stood behind a wall, gun held in both hands. He looked down at the gun for a split second, rubbing the barrel of it with his thumb. He peeked around the corner of the wall. There were about ten SOLDIER first class. They were out of uniform, but Reno could still tell they were SOLDIER. It was the way they stood, the way they looked down at everyone who walked by. The red head sighed. Get over yourself Reno, you need the money. He jumped from his hiding place and let the gun do the work.

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The red head walked into an old flat. Inside the building was furnished. There was a bright red couch against one wall of the room, two legs were broken, making it lean to one side. Next to it was a lamp, the shade was a little dented but the bulb worked. At the far side of the room was a small black and white television set. One of the knobs had fallen off, but there was a match stick sat on the table the television sat on for the purpose of switching the channels. The room was empty at the moment. A boy with blonde hair poked his head around the only doorway in the room, expect the outside door. His hair was about shoulder length, tied up with a couple of strands of hair falling out. His fringe was brushed to one side. He was wearing some black pants and a black sweater. He must have been about fourteen, maybe a little bit older.

"Heya Reno. Good hunting?" He asked the red head. Reno smirked pulling out a wade of cash from his coat pocket. The blonde's eyes went wide. "Wow. That's looks worth the job."

"Sure does, doesn't it Vice." Reno flopped down on the sofa, making it creek a bit more. He shut his eyes as it did. Vice stood there and smirked.

"Reno, you idiot! Stop trying to break the couch!" A voice yelled from the other room.

"If it had four legs, it would be able to take more." He mumbled. A brunette man walked into the room, early twenties. His hair was on the short side. He had striking dark green eyes that Reno swore went even darker when he was in a bad mood.

"I heard that dumkopf." Reno grinned.

"Come on Gui, you really need to think of a better insult than that." Gui narrowed his eyes at the red head.

"Don't you have places to be, money to give to people you've been in debt to for nearly two years?" He asked him.

"Yeah yeah, I'll get to it." Reno said waving his hand. The browned haired man sighed. He went over to a sink in the room, making himself a glass of water. A tall guy with green hair walked in from the outside door, slamming it shut. He had a black trench coat on. He was probably a year older than Reno himself was. He walked up to the sofa and flopped on it in the same manner as Reno did. The red head looked at the new member of the room. "How come I get shouted at and you say fuck all to him?" He said jabbing his thumb to his left. Gui just started at Reno.

"Because I don't like you." He said smirking. The green haired man looked at Reno.

"Gui giving you shit again?"

"You don't know the half of it." Reno tugged at one of the man's locks of hair. "Green now is it, Checker? Wasn't it blue this morning?"

"Fancied a change."

"Of course he did, he always needs a change." A blonde girl said from the doorway. She smirked. Her hair was right down to her waist, pulled up in a pony tail and platted. She wore a short light blue shirt and a longish dark blue shirt, slightly open at the top and bottom. She was about nineteen.

"And you would know Leigh." Checker told her, pushing past her to get in the other room.

"Nice bundle of cash you have there in your hand Reno." Reno frowned.

"Yeah, and none of it is mine for keepers." Leigh looked at him.

"You still got that rich bastard to pay off?" Reno nodded.

"I need to get him off my case for a while." He mumbled. Reno heard a noise and his head shot up to eye the door. The rest of the rooms occupants did the same. Checker came back from the other room. "What the...." Reno started to say as the door bust open, coming off it's hinges. There was a burst of gun fire and Vice, the one who was stood closest to the door fell to the ground. Blood started to pour from a hole straight in his forehead. Reno looked at the guy that stood in the doorway Shit! He's from SOLDIER was the first thing that went through his head. The red head dove behind the broken down sofa. He heard another gun shot. Another person could be heard hitting the floor. Reno peeked out to find out that person was Checker, a hole just above his nose. Reno crouched behind the couch. Another shot, yet someone else fell to the fall. Reno looked to the other side of the sofa to see a woman's hand. He couldn't see the rest of her body. Fuck Fuck Fuck!

"Shit!" He heard Gui yell from the other side of the room. There was yet another shot and another bang. Reno didn't need to look to find out who it was. The room was silent for two minutes.

"You might want to come out from behind the couch kid." Reno stayed exactly where he was. The red head then heard the sound of someone moving. The sofa was then flipped over, revealing Reno. He looked up at the SOLDIER in front of him. "You might as well get up. We've been told to take you to Shinra." The red head cringed at the name. He shut his eyes tight, not wanting to survey the damage to the room, or the dead bodies laid around the floor. He felt someone drag his arm, trying to pull him up. Reno gave in and let himself be pulled. He was dragged out of the room. Before he left he opened his eyes. He never would forget the cold, dead look he saw in the blonde girl's eyes. He closed his eyes again.

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Reno sat in an interrogation room. He leaned on the table, hands laid out on it, his face laid on the cold hard steal. He heard the door open, but he didn't lift his head. He heard the chair at the other side of the table move, as it scrapped across the floor. The person never sat down though. Reno felt the table move a little. He assumed the person who had entered, was leaning on the table using his hands.

"You know why you're here don't you?" Said a deadly tone. Reno forced himself to look up. He's eyes widened a little. In front of him stood a tallish man. He had really long silver hair, dressed in a long black trench coat and black pants. A silver coloured shoulder pad on one shoulder. Reno wanted to say something witty but he couldn't find his voice. Why should I be scared of this freak? "Well?" He asked again, his voice just as deadly. The red head found that all he could do was nod. Sephiroth pushed away from the table and turned his back on Reno. "You managed to kill ten of our best SOLDIER yesterday night." He turned back round.

"So?" Reno answered. He tried to grin but all he managed was an half arsed attempt at it. Before he could move he felt something very sharp pressed against his throat.

"So? I have to waste half my time training new SOLDIER's now, because of a prick like you. Shinra isn't very happy with you.."

"Fuck Shinra!" Reno spat out, cutting Sephiroth off. The silver haired man pressed the sword a little harder. Reno swore he could feel blood dripping down his neck.

"I don't think he'd be very happy to hear you say that." Sephiroth smirked. "Death just won't cut it for you, will it? At this moment in time it seems like the best option to you, right?" Reno didn't answer. Sephiroth laughed a little. "I should force you to join SOLDIER, make up for the SOLDIER's that you killed." He took the sword away. He turned to walk towards the door. "You'll start as a first class SOLDIER tomorrow with all the new troopers that are coming. I'll trust you'll sleep well." With that the man left the room. Reno stared dumb found at the door for a long time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flash back ends~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adrienne stared at the floor for a while. She had tears in her eyes. One stray tear dripped down her cheek. She didn't know what to say to the red head sat next to her. She had no idea he was forced to join SOLDIER, no wonder he was always so bitter about it. She sighed shakily. Reno turned to look at her.

"Don't cry on my account." He told her. He looked back at the floor. She looked at him.

"Reno....... I had no idea."

"You wouldn't have." He spat a little. She shuffled a bit closer to him, putting an arm around his waist. She squeezed him.

"But it's in the past right?" She asked him. He nodded. She used her other hand to turn his head back round to look at her. "Want to go to bed?" Reno cocked one eyebrow up at her. She laughed a little. "Not in that way. It looks like you could use someone to be with you tonight, that's all." He nodded and let himself be dragged up the stairs.

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Scarlet dropped her suitcase on the hall floor. She rubbed the back of her neck. Talk about long nights. She decided she should check on Addy. Walking up the stairs, she rubbed the back of her neck again. She gently pushed the door of Adrienne's door open. She gasped. Adrienne stirred a little, opening her eyes. She could have sworn her mother was stood at the door. That woke her up a bit more. She shot up, making Reno, who had his head laid on her stomach, shoot up as well. Scarlet was fuming in the doorway.

"Heh, I can explain..." Adrienne started to say.

"What the hell is Rent Boy doing in here?" She shrieked. Reno cringed a little.

"As she said she can......" Reno started to say.

"Did I ask you Rent boy?" She spat.

"No you didn't, whore." He muttered. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Maybe I should just go." Scarlet still stared as the teenager, still with his trousers on, got out of the bed. He pulled on his shirt and left.

"It's not what you think." Addy said to her, looking at the quilt cover.

"Then what was it then?" Scarlet spat.

"Why don't you trust me?" She asked her mother.

"I trust you, it's him I don't trust."

"Yeah, well it takes two to tango." She spat, grabbing some clothes that were on her chair, she stormed out the room. Scarlet clenched her fist for a few seconds.

"You don't know what slums boys are like." She mumbled softly to herself.

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