3

Her Voice
(Sequel to 2 Blurred Snowflakes)
V. RayZ

He had to get her voice out of his head...

"Come out with your hands up!"

Green eyes looked over at his bald friend, shaking hands gripping his pistol tightly. Rude was breathing heavily, clutching his bloody stomach with both blood-stained hands, sweat beading across his brow.

"Reno! Rude! Stop this nonsense and get your asses out here, hands up!"

-"Stop this nonsense and get over here, Ree. I need your help."-

He looked over to where his angel knelt, undisturbed by the shots being fired their way. Short chocolate locks fell across her left eye and she quirked an eyebrow at him. "You gonna give up already? They're all against you. As soon as you stand up, you're dead."

He felt a dry chuckle excape him. "You're not here. sweetheart."

2 Months Before

Reno smiled at his fiancee, placing a large hand on her swollen tummy. She returned the smile, then continued making a grocery list. She was short in stature with short, choppy chocolate hair that always seemed stylishly messy and grey-lilac eyes. She had promised to keep him out of prison... And had succeeded so far.

"Reeve says that he's going to come out sometime this week," she told him, looking at the list she had made.

"To stop by or for business?" Reno asked, watching her intently.

She looked up at him with a small smile. "Both. Just because you won't let me go to work doesn't mean that work can't come to me." She got up to look in the cabinets.

"Yuff, what about the stress? It wasn't just because of the distance, y'know. If you're stressed, so's the baby, which can-"

"Oh, stop this nonsense and get over here, Ree. I need your help. I can't see if we have any tomato sauce."

A knock on the door alerted the couple's blue heeler, Casey. He barked, hackles raised in readiness for whomever tried to enter without permission. Reno patted the dog on the head as Yuffie Kisaragi made her way to the door. She opened it and greeted the unknown person kindly. They talked for a moment before Reno decided to check things out.

It all happened so quickly...

A loud shot.

Yuffie fell to the floor.

The person ran.

Reno ran to her, trying desperately to stop the bleeding. He called an ambulance, the local doctor, and Reeve. She had been shot in the stomach. Their eyes met for a brief moment, then he watched the light fade from her amethysts. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth and Reno doubled over her body, sobbing harshly.

Yuffie Kisaragi and her unborn child were dead.

1 Month After Yuffie's Death

"Guilty."

Reno looked at Reeve, who stared dumbfoundedly at the judge. Cloud Strife smirked in triumph, but the other three AVALANCHE members remained silently staring at the ground. Reno merely nodded.

A motorcycle burst through the doors of the court room and skidded to a halt in front of Reno and Reeve. The red head grinned and jumped on behind the rider. The only three police officers in the court room fired shots, but missed as the two rode off. Reeve, the judge, the jury, and nearly everyone else in the court room stared after them in stupified silence.

"Well, go the fuck after 'em!" Cid hollered after a few moments.

1 Week After the Escape

Elena and Rude sat opposite of Reno at a table in some hole-in-the-wall restaraunt in Wutai. The red head was constantly depressed and went out of his way to stir trouble. Elena had only joined them for lunch, not willing to leave her husband and infant for Reno and Rude's mission to fuck up the world.

"Do you want me to put flowers on her grave?" Elena asked Reno.

-"Flowers would be a nice gesture..."-

He sighed and shook his head, ignoring her voice. "No, I'll do it myself. Besides, there're two graves in one." Elena looked shocked. "Her name was gonna be Renee Akaya."

Elena nodded. "I'll find the bastard who did it, Reno."

The red head shook his head. "No, Laney. I will. And I'll make him pay."

That was when Yuffie began appearing. She was suddenly sitting beside him, telling him where he and Rude should go. Reno never questioned her - or his sanity - but obeyed. Rude began to ignore when his friend talked to Yuffie, figuring that it was a way with coping with all the stress. After all, he lost his entire family in one second.

The Day of the Shoot Out (Beginning)

Reno and Rude burst into the cafe in Costa del Sol, guns raised. "Everyone out!" they ordered. When no one seemed to want to move, Reno shot a table beside a customer. That got them running.

Reno wore jeans and a tee-shirt with work boots, a witness had told the police. Rude wore suit pants, a white button-up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, suspenders, and dress shoes. The two were an odd pair, the farm boy and the mobster.

The men kicked over tables to help make a barricade. Reno was ready to go down. He was ready to be with Yuffie and Renee. Death seemed such a bittersweet glory.

"You could always pull your own trigger," she told him.

"I don't believe in suicide," he replied gruffly.

Within a few hours, the police - and Reeve - had shown up. They caught Rude off-guard and he collapsed behind the bar with a gut wound. Reno took out four cops, but needed to reload.

"Come out with your hands up!"

He looked at his injured friend. That line was something that he had heard in his dreams so many times. Yet it seemed so bland in real life.

"They'll kill you," she whispered in his ear.

"Reno! Rude! Stop this nonsense and get your asses out here, hands up!"

"You gonna give up already? They're all against you. As soon as you stand up, you're dead."

"You're fucking dead!" he screamed in agony. "I love you, but some sadistic fuck killed you!"

The officers were silent as the words echoed around the cafe. "Let me talk to him," Reeve pleaded.

"He killed you and Renee, Yuff! So why the hell are you still here? Am I fucking insane?"

Reeve took a few couple steps, talking as he went. "Not insane, Reno," he called. "Just unstable."

Rude chuckled dryly. "That's... Who you've... Been talking to...? Your... Dead girlfriend?"

Reno clutched his head in both hands. "Make her voice fucking stop, dammit! I... I can't live with this... It's not her! It's some gods damned wanna-be with Yuffie's voice! I want Yuffie! I need my Yuffie!Her smile, her real voice!"

Reeve was behind the counter, kneeling next to the distressed Reno. "She's dead, Reno. Believe me, I know that it hurts, but she's gone. That voice is in your head. It's all in your head."

"He's lying!" she screeched. "He's just jealous 'cause he can't see or hear me!"

Reno looked up at Reeve, eyes cold, and took aim. "I'm sorry, Reeve."

A shot rang out and the cops rushed forward. Reeve sat staring at the floor. In front of him, Reno Zanard was leaned against the bar, the back of his head blown out and his eyes closed. Rude was silently lying a little bit away.

"The voice was in his head, "Reeve said in a tear-choked voice. "He said he had to get her voice out of his head."

.fin.