I Tried - Chapter 8

PATH OF LEADERSHIP

A year and a half passed, Reno grew a year older, more jaded, and more dangerous. He never mentioned the killings in the alley to anyone, he didn't have to. Bronx made sure that everyone knew his protégé wasn't someone to mess with. Reno got his respect, he got his fear, lastly, he got a price on his head, straight from the Don. There was a reward out for anyone who killed the Red Wolf, or any other member of his growing gang.

Fallen as a whole, didn't mind the notoriety. Life got much more hazardous for them, but they were suddenly the gang people looked to if they wanted to push against the Don's men. Bronx wasn't one to make threats lightly, he took Fallen to a new level- the middle of a vast gang war.

The Don and his thugs weren't exactly a gang, though they may have well been. The Don himself never showed his face, but his words echoed throughout the slums. The crisp tenor belaying his thick frame and chasing down the allies. Words alone did not win wars, he soon learned. The Don was loosing ground to the more effective frontal leadership of Fallen. He went to Shinra at last, begging protection.

He got it, strangely enough; Shinra didn't mind sullying it's vast name. Ever since the Wutai war, people realized that Shinra was not an electric company with an army. Shinra was a superpower, that happened to control all forms of power. They sent their own police force down to the slums.

It was those police officers that were currently giving Reno and his companions a hard time. They were more organized then the other street gangs, and far better armed. Reno peeked his head out from behind a dumpster, only to jerk it back at the sound of gunfire. The side of the dumpster sparked with sudden impacts. The red head looked over to Viper and Tex. "Whose idea was this shit again?" He growled, spilling out his empty clip and reloading.

Viper cussed, tucking his gun back in his pants. "I'm empty." The young man slammed his large fist into the dumpster, leaving a dent. He slumped down next to Reno. "Your big bro's." Viper then kicked out, sliding one of the duffle bags they had been carrying against a wall. "Must be some good shit in here if the Shinra bitches are after us."

Just half an hour before that, Reno and his two friends had been going to the bar to party. Tex noticed the three other men unloading alone in the back of a building. The gang had recently expanded to the area, and it wouldn't do for them to just let something like that slip by.

Tex and Viper were both large boys, strong and still of the age where they believed they would never die. They rushed forward before the idea had left Reno's mouth, driving two of the three thugs to the ground. When taken by surprise like that by two experienced fighters, anyone would have lost. It left Reno and the other man staring at each other for a split second.

Reno's natural caution caused him to hang back and give the third man enough time to run. However, if it came to a sprinting contest, no one in the slums was a match for Reno. Easily outrunning his victim, Reno kicked his legs out from under him before the man was down the alley. Making up with finesse where his larger friends had power, Reno knocked the man out and met his partners. They thought it was a perfect job.

Until the squad cars pulled up.

Tex crouched down and checked his clip. "I'm going to be dead soon too. Any fucking bright ideas, Wolf?" He adjusted his cowboy hat before also daring a look over the dumpster. His results were similar to Reno's, and he growled from the other side of Viper. "Now'd be the time ta have 'em."

Once again Reno poked his head out from behind the dumpster. Four cops glared out at him. He looked back to Viper and Tex. Tex had been testing him since the two met, the blond boy was strong, smart, not a natural follower like Viper. Even if he would take a bullet for him, Reno knew that Tex would take his position if he got the reason. He would have to think of something before Tex did. Then, it came to him.

"Just sit tight guys..." He threw his own gun out, the spotlight followed it. "I give!" Reno yelled loudly. "I'm coming out." Ignoring the blank stares from his friends, Reno slid out, his hands raised.

"State your name." A megaphone enhanced voice echoed to him. The cops edged closer, forming a half circle around the young red head.

Reno smirked, then moved his left hand to the bridge of his nose. Quickly, he mumbled, "tomba di lux lucis " and brought his left hand to his shoulder and then down to his side. Pyramids surrounded the four police men, who erupted in a flurry of motion, trying to escape. Reno crossed his arms over his chest. "Name is Red Wolf."

"What in the hell!" The cop in charge snarled at Reno. "Let us out of here!"

"Uhm.. no. I would rather let you rot there." He walked behind the dumpster and scooped up a bag. "Later." He let Viper and Tex take the other bag, both following him in stunned silence.

"What the hell did you say? What was that, man?!" Viper yelled when they were a safe distance away, in another sector.

"I don't know what it means, my mom taught me that." The red head responded. "It doesn't hold long though."

Tex laughed, impressed. "Who cares? It held long enough. You need to teach me that shit. It would come in handy."

Reno lit a cigarette and rolled his eyes in an effort to appear less pleased that he had impressed his, albeit friendly, rival. "Fer when you get caught with someone else's woman?" He prodded.

The older boy flinched, he still had a bruise on his side from a rival gang member, part of a group called the Desperadoes. "How was I ta know she was wit onna them? I didn't ask."

Reno punched Tex in the shoulder, roughly after putting his lighter back in his pocket. Viper snickered, lighting a cigarette of his own before following the two back to their headquarters.

Time passed quickly after that, it was as if the next year snuck in on the tails on the one before it. Reno's growth spurt came as predicted, shooting him up to slightly under six feet tall. At fourteen years old, his height caught up to his deep voice. But his build was still small, a runners. Not enough food and too much parting left him skinny, his skin pale with purplish bags under his eyes that halted at his scars. The cat calls had stopped, no one dared to bump into him, let alone proposition him. Head to toe, he looked a thug.

The war of the slums heightened to involve armies of a sort. Four main gangs absorbed what had at one time been hundreds. Fallen's ground was by far the largest, but the Desperadoes, the Pirates, and the Agents were also stable. The Don had fallen back into a territory, but the hold he had on it was unshakable. Even to someone that had been in Wutai, this was a true war.

Turf was won and lost five times in a day, people changed ranks and sides with an unheard of flippancy. Fallen didn't classify ranks like ShinRa did, but if it had to, Bronx had become a warlord, Reno, the General Elite.

General Reno was home, trying to sleep, when the phone rang, pulling the whole phone to the bed and the receiver to his head, under the pillow. "Yeah?" His voice was laced with sleep, the word came out part greeting and part challenging.

"Wolf?" It was Viper, the red head was far too tired to pick up on the urgency of his friend's words.

"This. Had. Better. Be. Good." Reno snapped, sitting up and knocking his pillow to the floor.

There was a pause at the end of the line, it was impossible to tell if Viper was upset or afraid. When the older boy did speak the words came out in a rush. "Bronx is dying man. The Desperadoes got a hold of 'im.

Without another word, Reno slammed the phone together, leaving it on his bed while he darted from the door. He threw his clothing on in a rush, almost knocking Padre over in his haste to leave the church.

"Where's the fire, Reno?" Padre asked, blocking the doorway.

"I don't have time for this." Reno tried not to yell at the priest, but his words were threatening.

"Don't take that tone with me, Reno. Where are you going? I know you haven't been home more then five hours."

"What part of 'I don't have time' don't you get?" Reno snarled at Padre. "Now move outta my way before I go though you!"

The bald headed pastor vainly tried to stare down the now taller Reno. "You are fourteen years old! Reno, do I need to remind you every day? As much as you think you are, you are not an adult yet!"

"I seem to pay the bills an awful lot for a damn child!" Reno stepped into Padre's face. "For the last time, move."

Padre stepped aside and Reno darted out the door without a second glance. He sighed and watched as two other forms joined Reno's as they darted down the alley. By now, he knew them as Tex and Viper. Padre hung his head, it was the hardest thing he ever did now a days, watching Reno surely destroy himself. The priest hated to see all of the potential Reno had go to what he was doing. However, he had no power to stop the boy, no matter how much he wished he could save Reno. "Why do we even try, Mariah?" He asked into the church. Mariah didn't answer. "Mariah?"

Reno, Viper, and Tex pushed though to the front of the waiting mob in Fallen's Lair. The entire gang had been called out. Reno shouldered through the gang to the stolen bleachers that served as a speaking platform. People got out of his way as best they could, but Reno bruised more then a few ribs on his way. Bronx was sitting, more slumped, between the bleacher seats. Blood was pooling below him, the knife wounds to his neck and his side were oozing down his body.

"Bro!" Reno moved swiftly down the bleachers next to his leader "You okay?" The boy didn't have to ask the question, it was obvious that the man was simply waiting for Reno's appearance to die.

Bronx shook his head, causing blood to spurt from the slash at the side of his neck. He couldn't speak any longer. Bronx simply removed his old, tattered, deep red bandanna- his symbol as Fallen's leader- from his head and handed it to Reno.

The boy almost fell over. There were older members of Fallen, more seasoned warriors of the slums, but Bronx was turning the gang over to him. Every action he did now, would be looked at, everything he did. If he screwed up now, it wouldn't just be a ribbing from Tex. Even though he knew he had respect in the gang, Reno somehow didn't compute his own importance. Holding that bandanna made life suddenly all the more real.

Reno's eyes widened. He kneeled next to Bronx and removed the light red bandanna of Fallen's regular members and accepted the darker one. He looked from one bandanna to the other, The deeper colored one was older, bloodstained from Bronx and the leaders that came before him. Reno waited until he saw Bronx take his last breath, reached forward and pushed the dead man's eyes closed. Then he stood slowly.

The lighter bandanna fell to the bleachers as he rose, tying the darker one around his forehead. There he stood, looking over the silent crowd, the silent army, more then two hundred strong. Reno made himself a promise then and there that he would live to see the war ended, that he would do something with his power. The red head saluted Bronx's body, looked over his soldiers and held a fist in the air. That air was filled shortly with the cheers of his followers.

Tex followed Reno silently, the red head had issued a mass of orders, in a tone so calm it made him forget that while he was speaking, directly next to his new leader, the body of his old one was draining it's blood on the floor. After ordering Bronx's body removed, Reno dismissed the gang, Viper and Tex following him home.

Tex had his questions about Reno. The boy was young, while mature and intelligent, there was something strange about following a fourteen year old. He wondered if that was how the SOLDIERS felt, following the fifteen year old Sephiroth into battle.

"Tex?" Reno asked at length.

The sound of Reno's voice made Tex jump. "Yeah?"

"Do you still know the leader of the Desperadoes' sister?"

Tex blinked at the back of Reno's head. He hadn't been expected the question. A half beat later Reno halted, turning to regard him. Tex ventured another look at Viper, who seemed as shocked as he was. Reno crossed his arms over his chest, eyebrows drawing together in impatience.

"I- ah, yeah man, I still call the bitch every once and a while. It ain't nothing serious. She just gives great head ya know?" Tex was shocked that he was nearly stammering. Had it only been two years since this skinny kid joined Fallen? Why did it seem like things had been a game until now? This person in front of him, it wasn't the Reno he had helped home at twelve and thirteen, this person was something entirely different- intimidating.

"I want you to find out where he will be next weekend. And then lead a group in to kill the son of a whore." Reno made to turn around again.

Lead a front? Bronx had other captains that did those things, as much as Tex had wanted more power, this isn't what he had in mind. "Woah, what? You want me to do what?" Then Reno glared at him. Real fear washed over Tex.

"Did I stutter?" Reno asked in deep level tones.

"No, no, I'll find 'is sister tomorra." Tex looked at a point near Reno's head, unable to meet the other man's eyes.

"Good, we have to push back, if not, things are going to get much hotter down here." Reno turned then walking away with Viper.

Feeling all doubts about the young red head wash away, Tex nodded to no one.

Reno pushed the church door open to see Padre trying to wake Mariah. "What's wrong!?" He rushed up to the alter where Mariah had collapsed, and kneeled for the second time that night. Instead of darkness and blues of the bleachers, the alter was bathed in white lights and yellow toned candle flames. Their three figures almost seemed to glow underneath it. Reno looked up at the cross and felt a wave of guilt for not being there sooner. He looked over at a teary-eyed Padre, who was holding Mariah's wheezing form in his lap. "What happened?" he repeated.

Padre didn't notice the first time Reno spoke. He tilted his head down to look at Mariah while he talked. "She was just staring at the wall, not responding, and then, she had a seizure..." Shaking his head, Padre looked at Reno for the first time in years. The young man's hard face was gone, the cocky edge in his voice evaporated like dust on a lit candle. When Reno spoke again, Padre thought that just perhaps, he had actually raised him correctly.

Reno helped Padre to stand, together they moved her to a pew. "She needs a doctor".

"We don't have the money." Padre replied.

Reno closed his eyes, Padre watched the young man's fist ball up at his side. He recognized that emotion, it was the same one he felt himself. Helplessness had a strangle hold, just when one could think they are invincible, something they have no control over happens. Reno took a deep breath, opening his eyes. When he turned to Padre again, the priest was almost shocked at the transformation. "I'll get it."

If he would only apply himself, Padre thought for the thousandth time, Reno could be a great man one day.