It's been a long while since I've updated… ## well, I have been writing new scenes, just not ones coherent with the current timeline. But, finally I did manage to finish the final Reno/Aeris past scene. Onto bigger and better things!

Chapter 28

The lover and the blind man they sing their song
The pleasured and the pained pray their sins are gone
They can't reach heaven, truth's brutal lesson
Forgive yourself, for no one else will die for your crimes
But who decides, who decides?

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They sat waiting, he on the slab of concrete, her on a chair brought out from under the dining table, not a word spoken between them. An uncomfortable air had settled between the two since the revelation of Jerad's accumulation of weaponry. On one hand, Reno had a job to do, and something like this would undoubtedly be reported to ALIEN if any other person was on the scene, on the other… he'd known Aeris and Jerad since childhood. Reno needed to talk to Jerad, to get him to hand over all his weapons… only then would he be able to forget it ever happened. He could just say he found them somewhere, or he busted somebody and they ran away. Any explanation other than the truth would do. Finally, after what seemed to both Aeris and Reno an eternity, the church doors swung open, and Jerad stepped inside. He stopped short, noting by the expressions on Reno and Aeris's faces that something wasn't right.

"Something wrong?" He folded his arms, casting a stare at both.

"As a matter of fact, there is." Reno stood up, walking over to Jerad. He was marginally taller than the angry-eyed youth, but Jerad was not intimidated. Sensing he was the reason Reno was agitated, Jerad smirked and stared at him unblinking.

"Something to do with me, Turk?" He spat out the last word with a lot of animosity.

"Yes, Jerad." Reno said coolly, not taking his eyes off him. "It concerns the stash of illegal weapons you currently have stocked neatly in your room."

Jerad turned to Aeris, a furious look in his eyes. Aeris cowered back a little, looking at Reno a little fearfully. She was scared for his safety, if he pushed Jerad too far. He didn't know the abilities Jerad possessed, or that she possessed… if he did, she was sure he'd never come near either of them again.

"Jerad, we went into your room to find you… and we found weapons everywhere." Aeris tried to sound authoritative and displeased, but her voice came out far tinier than she'd hoped. Only because she too was scared of her brother. Jerad strode forward with a vicious look on his face, grabbing Reno by the shirt and holding him high in the air.

"How dare you go into my room, Turk!" He scowled hatefully, prepared to teach Reno a physical lesson.

"No, Jerad!" Aeris grabbed his arm and tried to pull him away from Reno. Before she could, Reno had taken a small knife out of his pocket and slashed Jerad's arm with it. Jerad immediately recoiled, cursing at Reno and nursing his wrist. Reno put away the knife and produced a small handgun.

"You think I won't use this? I will. You'd better not touch me, ever again." Reno's scowl now matched Jerad's in intensity. The fragile balance of respect that had existed before now seemed shattered.

"No, please, stop it…" Aeris's voice shook, as she tried to keep calm. She had feared a situation such as this ever since Reno had joined the Turks. Jerad's demeanour towards Reno had changed ever since that day, and it seemed Jerad's feelings of animosity towards Reno had finally peaked. Before, he had really had no excuse to attack Reno, but now, despite it being a relatively small infringement, Jerad had found his platform from which to launch an assault.

"You think I'm scared of you?" Jerad smiled contemptuously and stared at Reno, his eyes burning with rage. "I tell you this, Turk. You better shoot me right now, because if you don't, I'm going to make sure you never have the chance to use that gun again."

Both Aeris and Reno knew Jerad meant every word of it. This young man was not afraid to act upon his rage, as had been demonstrated in the past, and although Aeris doubted Jerad would kill Reno, he would certainly leave him in a very bad way, perhaps in such a condition Reno could never fully recover from. She tried to catch Reno's eye, but he was keenly focused on her enraged brother.

"Just tell me why those weapons were in your room, Jerad." Reno kept his voice smooth as ice, yet his eyes betrayed his anger. Aeris began to worry about whether Reno would actually pull the trigger.

"You really want to know?" Jerad hissed at Reno, a snake-like quality to his voice. "Alright, here's something that'll surprise you both. I'm a member of an underground rebel movement. They supplied me with those weapons."

"What?" Aeris gasped, shocked by this revelation. Whilst she had known of his hatred for the government, she had no idea he was involved in terrorism. Reno, on the other hand, was smiling now, as if he had been proven right, somehow.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm a terrorist. Except we don't call ourselves terrorists, because we're not. We're freedom fighters!"

"Give me a break." Reno chuckled.

"Look at you." Jerad narrowed his eyes. "Standing there in your nice blue suit, thinking you're something special because you work for the all-powerful government. Because you're in a team that's known in most circles as assassins… you don't have any right to look down upon me. You're just a lapdog! Me? I follow my own rules and I set my own rules."

"If you were ever head of any society it would crumble in days." Reno shook his head, keeping the gun aimed steadily at Jerad.

"How do you know? Just because you're too narrow minded to view a society other than this… because you're blind to the evil you're protecting! You're a link in the chains that bind us all! We break those links! We release the millions of people you and your kind keep tied down!"

"Do you practice these speeches, or what?" Reno interrupted, becoming impatient. He had to act, now. Jerad had admitted to being a terrorist, and as a Turk he had no choice but to arrest him, no matter what Aeris said.

"Make your jokes, Turk…" Jerad spat at Reno's feet. "We're stronger than you think. Remember the Upper Sector Two bombing last month? Guess who planted one of the bombs."

"No, Jerad…" Aeris brought her hand to her mouth, disgusted her brother could have been part of such a violent act that killed so many innocent people. Jerad couldn't be serious.

"Aeris… don't think of me as a murderer. The people living on that plate know the score… they support the black heart that pumps black blood around this city. They are part of the reason for the decay of our lives. You have to understand…"

"You've been brainwashed, kid." Reno interrupted once more, tired of hearing Jerad's flowery use of language. It was obvious the young man had inhaled the fumes of rebellion willingly and was now spewing out the mindless drivel that was preached by those who used their status as hardcore rebels to coax the younger, idealistic breed of young people to follow their doctrines.

"Be quiet, scum!" Jerad's voice returned to a hiss, as he made a step forward. Reno kept his gun held firmly.

"One more step, and I will shoot you. I'm trained to deal with situations like this." Reno's voice was full of confidence and not an ounce of apprehension filtered through into his speech. Aeris began to cry, holding onto Jerad's arm and begging him to give it up. This only worsened Jerad's temperament, he raised his fist and locked eyes with Reno.

"That's the only way scum like you knows how to handle things! When people don't agree with you, they get gunned down!"

"Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black, my young friend?" Reno allowed a condescending smile to appear on his face. "You despise us for our methods, yet you yourself use terror tactics to get noticed. Slightly hypocritical, don't you think?"

Jerad growled, pulling his arm away from Aeris. "You don't have the guts to shoot me, Turk! I hate you! I'll kill you!" Jerad charged forward furiously. With no hesitation whatsoever, Reno pulled the trigger of the gun. A bullet leapt forth and the precision of Reno's aim became apparent as Jerad stopped dead in his tracks, choking and grabbing his stomach. His breathing became erratic and he fell to his knees, as blood seeped out between his fingers and dripped onto the church floor.

"Oh, oh God… no!" Aeris let out a hysterical scream and grabbed Jerad, prying his hands from the wound and sobbing as she saw the bullet hole embedded in his flesh. Crimson blood was flowing from the wound. Jerad looked up at Reno, grinning slightly.

"To die at your hands… how humiliating." He fell to the floor with a thud, closing his eyes. Aeris crawled over to him, shaking violently and brushing his hair back, she tried to wipe away her tears, desperate to continue believing Jerad would be alright. Her sorrow turned to anger. She stood up and glared at Reno, unable to believe he had shot her brother.

"You… bastard!" She walked towards him, until they were toe-to-toe, and delivered the hardest slap she had ever administered. Reno was rocked by the force of the blow and nearly lost his footing. He stumbled backwards, holding his face and groaning in pain. Yet, he didn't say a bad word towards Aeris. He looked at her, and knew without a shadow of a doubt from this point, their relationship was over. Reno reached into his pocket again, this time produced a small phone.

"You going to call your buddies now? Your assassin buddies? You going to arrest us, huh Reno?" She had started to sob again, and hated herself for appearing to be so weak.

"Hello?" Reno had seemingly reached whoever he was contacting. "Yes. I need an ambulance to the church in sector five. We have a young man down, he's been shot. It could be critical unless you get here soon. Hurry." Reno disconnected himself from the emergency service and glanced at Aeris, his hand still caressing the area of his face that had felt the wrath of Aeris.

"W-what?" Aeris now looked confused, breathing heavy from crying and the effort she put into her slap.

"He needs urgent medical attention. Aeris…" Reno shook his head. "I guess this is it. It's over between us, right?"

"You shot my brother…" Her shoulders shook, as she took a look at her brother's bloody prone body on the floor. "You've shown your true face today, Reno. I can't love a man who could shoot my brother like that… I'm sorry."

Reno shrugged, he was trying to put across a feeling of indifference, but inside he was battling a mixture of grief and fury. "Yeah, well, it's probably for the best anyway. I slept with a few girls whilst I was away anyhow. Needed the comfort." His grin was a mask for the feeling of guilt he felt as he said this and saw Aeris's face crumble, her picture of their relationship tainted further, beyond repair by this point. "So, goodbye, then. I will be coming over here with my 'assassin friends', as you called them, to collect those weapons. I suggest you stay away from her for a few days. I'll not tell the others you live here… but you'd better keep your brother out of trouble. My friends won't be so easy on him." Reno gave Aeris a cruel wink and promptly exited the church, leaving a broken-hearted Aeris behind him forever.

The door closed shut behind him, ominously echoing throughout the church. If the situation had been different, Aeris may have simply stood where she was in shock and continued crying until she had no more tears to release. Yet, she had to put this all to one side, for now. She bent down to Jerad and layed him on his back, biting her lip as she saw the blank expression on his face.

"Jerad… don't worry. An ambulance is coming… you're going to be just fine… just hold on, please. I can't lose you." She felt a lump in her throat and couldn't speak any more. Simply stroking his hair and face, searching for any sign of consciousness.

"I'll… never… ever… put you in danger… again." Jerad's words came as a surprise to her. His lips seemed to move of their own accord, the rest of his face and body were completely still.

"I know." She rested her hand on his cheek. "I know."