"What's wrong?" Cloud picked up something was off when they returned to the offices.

"Boss found out about your little date." Elena informed casually.

"What?" Now alarmed, Cloud turned to Rude.

"I explained nothing ever happened between you two. I don't think he believed me." The bald man explained.

"Should I be worried if I'm gonna die?" Reno looked around.

"Perhaps." Rude answered honestly.

"Nice knowing y'all." The redhead sighs.

Cloud didn't have time to contemplate how to fix this when they got the signal on their radios that Tseng was at the excavation point. They gathered around closely as Elena brought up their boss's body camera for the live feed.

"We will come back for Sephiroth, for now bring Professor Hojo into the helicopter." Tseng instructs as he landed but didn't cut off the engine.

"Where's the boy?" Hojo seemed confused. "He's supposed to be here."

"See I - " Cloud couldn't finish his sentence when searing pain overtook him. He doubles over, hand grasping the side of his head.

"Babe? Baby? Whatever it is, you can fight it!" Reno places a hand on his back.

Obey me. Embrace me. Sephiroth's voice echoed.

"What the...?" Reno somehow heard the voice too. It was so alluring. Then he snaps out of it when Cloud pulls away from him to grasp his left arm.

"Cloud! Don't give in!" Darkness seeped from the arm, and now the rest of the Turks were in a panic without their boss.

"What do we do?" Elena couldn't fathom what form of training could have prepared for this.

"Go get Chadley! Bring him here as fast as you can with a sedative!" Reno grabs hold of Cloud when he started thrashing. "A little help here partner!"

Elena bolted towards the door. Rude moves to help hold Cloud so he wouldn't hurt himself or break free. Being stronger and the tallest, Rude grabbed hold of Cloud under each arm so they were both facing Reno. The redhead was struggling to keep the thrashing from getting out of hand.

Bring it to me. Bring me the Black Materia. Sephiroth's voice was somehow soothing. Even so the poison underneath was easily detectable.

"Materia?" Reno glanced at the left arm. The one that looked like it was causing a lot of pain to Cloud. He looked up at his partner. "Keep him steady?"

"I got this." Rude assured.

Reno let's go of Cloud, and suddenly the thrashing began with full force again. Quickly the redhead grasped the left arm and tries to coax the materia to come out, but the blonde was moving too much. With a last ditch effort Reno leaned in for a kiss.

Cloud stilled, the kiss almost snapped him back into reality. He responded the kiss by leaning into it as far as he was allowed to being pinned up by Rude behind him. Sensing he had Cloud's attention Reno deepened the kiss. He wished he could savor the moment, the taste, the feel of them pressed against each other.

But he had work to do. And Reno was quick and gentle as he coaxed the materia out. It burned his hand as he did, but it was almost fully out. A vision of Sephiroth reached out towards them, hand ready to grasp at his throat.

The door opens and it's Elena and Chadley. And in that same moment Reno had the materia fully out of Cloud's arm. Victorious he pulls away from the kiss to toss the burning materia as far away as possible. Reno hissed as he shook his burnt hand. Cloud stared, wide eyed as he processed what just happened.

"I suppose this isn't needed?" Chadley held up the sedative used for Soldiers. Ah, the advantages of being youthful and innocent.

"Nah. But uh, got anything to treat this?" Reno holds up his hand.

"Yes. Luckily I keep all remedies on hand. I will have you bandaged up in no time." Chadley proudly advanced with a first aid kit.

"Uh, Rude? You can let go now." Cloud couldn't feel his arms. The man cleared his throat and let him go.

"Cloud? When I'm finished here I would like to bring you to a room for further testing. Don't worry, it won't hurt or anything just a few basic questions while I draw your blood."

"What do we do about that thing?" Elena points to where the materia landed.

"I will have someone gather it wearing special gear for handling unstable materias." Chadley has the answer for everything.

xXx

"What happened?" Vincent asked before Tseng could. Both of them picked up something went wrong immediately upon landing.

"There was an incident." Elena didn't elaborate. Poor girl was too embarrassed.

"What kind of incident?" Tseng eyed her.

"It would be best if you... Heard from either Reno or Cloud, first. In the meantime, we have prepared a cell for Hojo." Elena wouldn't give in.

"May I check on the boy?" Vincent wanted to see for himself. First he had to make sure the lead Turk didn't mind.

"I suppose. I'll check on Reno, then." Tseng agreed. "After I take Hojo to his cell."

"Rude will take you to him." Elena passed him over to the bald man.

Silently Rude lead the way. Vincent welcomed the silence. Some things never changed, even though these were faces he never knew personally. They approached a room where Chadley was observing Cloud from a one way glass window.

"What happened?" Vincent's voice startled the boy. Even so he adjusted and recovered quickly.

"A Turk?" Chadley turned to Rude for confirmation.

"Ex Turk. But I'm working with you people to seek justice for what Hojo has brought into the world." Vincent answered.

"Ah, we share a common cause then. Well, I can't go into explicit details, but Cloud began to suffer some sort of calling from Sephiroth. The source was some unknown materia placed in his arm. When Reno removed it, Cloud was back to normal."

"Explicit?" Vincent blinked.

"To protect my client's privacy. Reno used a distraction to calm Cloud enough to draw out the materia. At the cost of doing so his hand got burned. I healed it best I could with what I had on me."

It didn't take much imagination on the implication of what had the young scientist meant. Vincent silently prayed that Reno wouldn't get burned worse than his hand for the action later.


AN: I didn't initially start out this story of Cloud being with Reno ultimately. But I'm open for changes. I won't change the rating to write smut for this story. If you want RenoxCloud smut then check my story Blackmail.