Business As Usual
Chapter 17: Given Power, Given Life
By Miyamashi
Miya's Note: This chapter is an odd one. It's far shorter than the last, but not much less weird. It starts out kind of light (comparatively speaking), then builds up to that slightly darker tone you've probably come to expect by now, with some of those same odd jumps from serious to…not-so-serious. Whoo, I'm having way too much fun doing funky things with these characters, and not really going anywhere as far as time is concerned. This chapter's only a couple of days, just like the rest of them. Believe me, though, that the new branch of plot in the last half of this chapter will continue on into later ones.
Eventually I will get on to some actual stuff that will take up time, but, for now, I'm still developing the characters and the relationships between them. It's such twisted fun!
The only thing that's not fun is going back to my already submitted chapters and seeing all of the typos! How embarrassing. I DO know how to use grammar.
To Keeper: I'd love to see your pictures, but you can't type web addresses into anything on here. You'll have to do it with spaces, like www . something . com.
Tarshil: Wow, that was an impressive review. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And about the Rufus-be-bottom thingy, it reminded me of this silly little sketch I drew on this piece of paper of Rufus saying "I am bottom!". It was fun. I hope I didn't keep you waiting too horridly long. (Yay! You used "Magnigicent"!)
To Puppet in the Corner: You have no idea how happy that made me. I'd been sitting there checking the fic over and over again waiting for my 100th review. I was just sooooo clooooseee… Thank yoo!
To noddu: Thanks! huggles
To TheHomicidalManiac777: Well, does this answer your question? grins Thanks for reading. Yay for Runo, too. There really does need to be more of it out there, don't you think?
To Puki-san: I'm making addicts! So…many…addicts! It's like a drug…O.o
AND to Neflanthir, TwistedGoth, she who STILL loves your story, and corkykiggs: Thank you all so much! I lub you! (Bwaha! I must corrupt and disturb the masses!)
"We need him here. We can't risk running the mission with only two people."
"I'm sure he'll show up."
"Late, as always. I know he's your friend, Rude, and you know that I care as much about him as you do, but we can't keep allowing him to disappear like this. Not only is he compromising our mission, he is putting us in danger."
"You can't just fire a Turk, Tseng, and expect him to go on and be a normal, productive member of society. He knows too much. We all know too much. There is no way for any of us to be anything but Turks."
"I know. That doesn't change anything. Either we hire a replacement now, or we risk dying out there."
"He probably has his reasons. He always does."
"Nonetheless, whatever the reasons, a Turk cannot be allowed to compromise his brothers' lives. Any Turk who is deemed unable to adequately perform his job must be discharged."
"Like Valentine?"
"Rude, nobody knows what happened to Valentine."
"That's my point. He was fired by the President for interfering with the performances of the Turks and the science department, then he just disappeared."
"That won't happen to Reno."
"Like hell it won't. It might have already, for all we know. The President hates him, doesn't he? For all we know, Reno may already be dead, and we're standing here talking about firing him?"
"Reno has a habit of skipping work and disappearing for no apparent reason. We can't allow that."
"Well, maybe if we're lucky, he's already been killed, so he doesn't have to face his own comrade. You're the boss, Tseng. Do whatever you want," Rude said bitterly and walked out.
"If you're so worried about him, then find him," Tseng hissed to the door.
"I don't understand us," said Reno as the sun's first rays filtered dimly through the Midgar smog.
"Haven't we already had this conversation?" was Rufus' reply.
"Yeah, I guess, but I still don't understand."
"What is there to understand? We are. There is nothing else you need to know."
"It's not just that. I just don't get life in general. I don't get any of it."
"Who does? The trick is to just let it happen. Just live. When you start to ask questions is when you start to doubt if any of it is worthwhile. I've learned that since I met you."
Reno laughed. "You're just trying to flatter me. I know you. You're just using your rich-man talk and that quick wit of yours to try and make me do what you want."
"Is it working?"
"Every time."
Rufus smiled more dimly than the shining of the sunlight. Reno could see the exhaustion in his face.
"Are you okay?" asked the Turk.
"Fine…I'm just fine, only…tired."
"Go back to sleep. You need it."
"No. I'll be alright."
"Sleeeep," Reno whined, waving his hand over Rufus' face like he was trying to hypnotize him.
"No, Reno. I have to…be strong." The blonde pushed himself to a sitting position.
"You've been strong enough. Go back to sleep." Reno pushed Rufus back so he was laying down again.
"I amthe one who is supposed to manipulate you. Let me up."
"No, you gave me the control, and I told you to go back to sleep."
"Why do we have to have these power battles? Just let me get up."
"Why do you have to do this to yourself? You need to rest, Rufus. You've had a hard few days."
"I've had a hard life, but that doesn't stop me."
"Just let me take care of you for once, okay? We'll just stay in here today, and you can get some rest, and then we can just , I dunno, do normal people stuff for once, instead of worrying about our jobs and all."
"Mmmn…sounds kind of tempting." the Vice President stared up blankly at the ceiling.
"Doesn't it?"
"Yeah…" Rufus laid one hand on Reno's shoulder. "I guess I can go back to sleep, but I need a little bit of motivation."
"What kind of motivation?"
"Just a strong Turk pillow to keep me safe and warm," Rufus whispered in his most sultry voice.
"Hmm, I don't know where I can find one of those." Reno made a show of acting like he was thinking very hard.
"I think you will be…adequate."
Reno looked at the thin fingers on his shoulder, then down to Rufus' face. "Wait a second."
"Yes?"
"You knew where my shoulder was."
"Yes."
"Can you see me?"
"Yes."
"Then why are you staring off like that?
Rufus looked straight at Reno. "I wanted to see how long it took you."
"You little bastard."
"I wish."
It took a second for the joke to settle in before Reno finally laughed.
"Lay down," uttered the blonde, pulling Reno's head down to rest on his chest, running his fingers carelessly through the red hair.
"I thought I was the pillow."
"Oh well. I don't really care."
"Hmm."
Reno drifted off before the thin fingers stopped moving.
"And I thought you wanted me to go to sleep," Rufus whispered.
Reno felt heavy on Rufus' chest. The blonde stared at the ceiling once more: a practicehe laughed silentlythat he was getting quite good at. He felt tired. Still, so tired.
But he couldn't sleep. What was happening to him? What had happened to him? Where was he in this world, who, what, why was he here? Really?
What was the point?
Reno, right? Reno's the only reason…right?
Right?
But, oh, how Reno made him feel weak….
…And, an all-too-short fifteen hours later, Rufus awoke from the slumber that he hadn't even realized had started. Reno was beside him, asleep. The sheets were clean. There were a few boxes of opened take-out on the end table, and a used fork sat next to the one that Reno had left for him. The blonde picked it up and twirled it in his fingers. Looking at the food, none of the cold Wutai phone orders seemed too appetizing, though his stomach gurgled longingly.
He still felt tired.
Fifteen hours of sleep, and he still felt tired.
As if attempting to teach his body a lesson, Rufus stood, setting the fork back down on the table, crossed over Reno's. He fished through the dark closet for something to wear that wouldn't call attention to his identity, then grabbed his weapons from their temporary place by the take-out and walked out of his apartment door. The hall lights stung his eyes and his legs wobbled beneath him.
So weak.
A tall, thin man strode quickly through the halls of the Shinra Headquarters. The cloak that covered his body and head billowed out behind him. A shadow from the cloak distorted his face into a twisted picture.
A few strands of strawberry blonde peeked out from under the white cloth of the robes.
"Who are you, sir, and what's your authorization?" asked a guard who was patrolling the hall at the time.
"Fuck you," replied the man, and pulled out a pistol and fired it into the man's hip, through the PHS communication device strapped to his belt. The slight ping of the silenced shot echoed through the corridor and then was gone, drowned out by the suddenly muffled cry of the guard.
"Don't make a peep, or I shoot again," the cloaked man hissed, covering the SOLDIER's mouth with one hand. "You're reaching for your weapon. The one attached to your left leg. I can feel it. Stop."
The guard was still.
"Unluckily for you," the attacker continued, "and luckily for me, it's the middle of the night, and there's nobody around to save you from this predicament, is there?" Feeling movement, the cloaked man's eyes shot down to the guard's right hand, which was inching slowly toward the knife strapped to his leg. The heel of the captor's palm jabbed into his throat with just enough strength to kill.
It took so little to slay him. The cloaked man was disgusted. He wouldn't have been able to fight back, had his position been worse.
Only a squeak issued from the young SOLDIER's lips as he collapsed, his windpipe crushed, his heart slowing suddenly to a screeching halt.
The cloak swished behind the man as he turned into his office.
Locking the door behind him, leaving the lights off, and sitting down in his desk chair, Rufus pushed the cloak's hood from his face. The Mako light from outside showed the shadows of the objects on his desk. He pressed a button to turn his computer on.
The machine whirred to life.
"Hojo, Aldous," Rufus whispered as he typed the name into the file registry on his screen. A picture resembling a mug shot appeared, with all of Professor Hojo's information organized neatly under it.
All that Rufus needed was a room number.
Not even bothering to knock, Rufus slipped his card key into the lock on Hojo's apartment door.
Sometimes, it was good being the Vice President.
The door unlocked with a click.
The small entry chamber was dark. The inside doors that led to the other rooms in the dwelling were closed.
Hojo awoke to a shaft of light creeping across his room from the slowly opening door. He sat bolt upright in his bed, his loosely fitting nightshirt slumping off of one bony shoulder like a father's shirt being worn by his son.
Ironic how things tended to happen in Shinra Incorporated. The one time he hadn't bolted his door was the one time he had a break-in.
A tall., black figure blocked some of the light, and a shadow fell over Hojo. The Professor felt around his end table for his glasses. A tumbler of water fell and shattered on the ground.
The figure moved quickly, darting up next to the bed. The light gleamed off of something metal in the figure's hand. It was blurred, but the scientist sensed that it was most likely a knife.
"Don't move," whispered the figure harshly. "It won't help me any if I have to use this. Believe me."
"At least let me find my spectacles, so that I can see you before you slit my throat."
"I will find them." The figure walked around the bed. It, or he, Hojo realized, judging from what he could tell by the whispers, picked the thick lenses from the end table and handed them to their owner. "Put them on, but don't move after that. Remember, I have the upper hand."
Hojo complied. His eyes focused, and he realized that the metal object was indeed a knife. The hand holding it was thin and pale, and it seemed almost to glow in the dim light.
"You know who I am, correct?" asked the figure, his voice still a mere whisper.
"Yes. You are the young Shinra."
The knife slashed across Hojo's exposed shoulder. The Professor grasped his wound.
"You know better," hissed Rufus. He tapped the bloodied blade on the underside of Hojo's chin. "And I told you not to move." A second cut appeared on the back of the scientist's hand, almost a direct echo of the one on the shoulder beneath it. Instead of grasping the new injury, Hojo remained still.
"Good," said Rufus. "Now speak. I know you have questions." The knife tapped again under the Professor's chin.
"Why are you here?"
"Wrong question. You should already know the answer to that. Try again."
"What were the side-effects?"
"Good. That's the right question. You should already know about some of them: temporary blindness, deafness, loss of smell…"
"Yes. After that? After you recovered. What then?"
"You see, that's the problem. I may have recovered my senses, but not my strength, and I have a feeling that it's not coming back without some assistance. Give me the cure."
"There is no cure."
Another cut, this time perpendicular to the second. "Wrong answer. There's always a cure. It was you who made me strong, and you who took that away."
"I did that on order from your father. He said that you were becoming too strong, and on top of healing you from your wounds, I was to revert you to your natural state."
"And you obeyed? I thought that you didn't take orders."
"I took it as a challenge, not an order."
"For the name of science?"
"Yes."
The knife turned sideways and slid forward, its blade cutting into the soft flesh under Hojo's jaw, its point hovering precariously before his throat."
"I have no fear of death. You should know that." Each word drove the blade farther into his skin "I know something, too. I know that you can't kill me. You need the cure."
"Wasn't planning on it. That's not what you fear, I know."
"Alright. Then tell me: What do I fear?"
"You fear the same thing that I do. You fear weakness. You fear losing your power. You fear losing your influence."
Hojo was silent. His uninjured hand clenched the sheet it lay on.
"I may be weak, but I am still able to incapacitate you if you don't cooperate. I can make it so that you will never see another experiment. Would you like to know what it's like to be blind? I can show you. Or, I will just overlook the fact that you just moved and I will leave you to keep doing whatever the hell it is that you do to people if you find. me. the. cure," Rufus growled, pushing the knife farther into Hojo's tissue. "Or, rather, you just tell me where I can find it, and I will take my fill. I don't trust you enough to put myself under your care again."
"My laboratory."
"Obviously. Where?"
"In my office. There is a pipe there, with a small faucet, just above my desk."
Rufus pulled the knife back. Blood ran down the Professor's chin to his chest. His shirt stained red. "A faucet? Do you expect me to reverse what you have done with water or some other meaningless substance? Do you think me so naïve as to…"
"Mako," Hojo interrupted. "If you don't believe me, then turn it on. You will see."
"Mako? You did this to me with Mako."
"And only Mako can take it away. It is a strange substance, Mako. It should be no wonder that it would be both the illness and the cure. Think about Materia. It is all made from Mako, but some heals, while another portion destroys."
"Fine. Say I believe you. What do I do with it? Drink it from a cup?"
"Patience, young Shinra. You are not thinking, and you are usually so bright."
Rufus' hand clenched around the knife pommel, and his knuckles shone even more white.
"There are small vials in the cabinet next to the faucet. Next to those are needles. Take only one syringe. They're too expensive for you to take more than that, and I've already used enough of them on you. Put the vials and your needle into a case. Inject the Mako directly into your bloodstream."
"How often, Aldous?"
Hojo glared.
"I thought so," Rufus sneered, a smug grin hiding in the shadows over his face. "You hate it, don't you, being called by your first name, like a peer." The blonde smiled wider as Hojo's glare deepened, his white teeth flashing like those of some strange creature. "It's all about influence," he echoed.
The scientist shook off Hojo's remarks, but his angry stare remained. "You are to take one dose approximately every four hours."
"For how long?"
"Until you are satisfied with the results."
Rufus turned, still talking to the man behind him. "If this doesn't work, you should think about being better prepared for our next meeting."
"I'll keep that in mind, Young Shinra."
The blonde laughed bitterly. "Sleep tight, Aldous." The door shut heavily behind him.
Hojo stood from his place on the bed and walked quickly to his bathroom. He cleaned and dressed his wounds, an odd smile on his face. "So nice of him to continue my experiments for me," spoke the scientist to his reflection in the mirror above his sink as he dabbed the blood from his shoulder.
'So strange,' Rufus thought as he watched the Mako run from the tiny faucet, 'how it flows, so like water, yet…'
He dared to tempt the fates, holding his hand under the stream. It was warm and strange against his palm. Though it flowed off of his skin like any other liquid, it felt like nothing else. Rufus cupped his palm, catching a small pool of Mako there. It hardly felt as if he held anything at all.
"So strange," Rufus repeated, but this time his voice rang off of the concrete walls, "that life itself would be so light."
The blonde let the green liquid run through his fingers. It left a faint, shiny residue on his hand. He moved his fingers, and his joints responded stiffly, like he had been clenching his fist. His skin burned a little with the memory of the heat of the planet.
The vials that Hojo had described were tiny, as was the syringe that accompanied them. Rufus filled as many as would fit in the foam-padded box that he pulled from that same cabinet. He held one last small jar under the faucet, and it filled quickly. He pulled the cap from the needle with his teeth.
One vial proved just enough to fill one dose.
The Vice President looked at the veins on his hand. No, he wanted something that would give faster results. He caught his reflection in the glass of a specimen jar. There. One vein shown out on the right side of his neck, blue and full of blood, so close to his brain; so close to his heart. The Mako would flow from there straight to that heart, where it would be pumped quickly throughout his entire body. Results would be almost instantaneous.
After all, that was where his doctor had always injected him with her special medications.
The needle pierced his flesh and the glowing Mako disappeared into his body. His eyes widened with an unexpected pain.
It burned.
He set the syringe down quickly in its case, not bothering to recap it. He leaned against the metal counter on which it sat, the fiery heat of the Mako making him suddenly feverish. His face flushed with the flames that licked the underside of his skin. His eyes smoldered with the warmth of the sun.
His mouth opened wide in the shape of a twisted and silent scream, though its corners curled slightly upwards.
But he could feel it. He could feel the fervor of sheer power coursing through his veins, so intense that it would strive to consume him and scorch him to ashes.
And Rufus laughed, the sweat running from his brow into his already stinging eyes.
"Rufus? You're finally awake?" asked Reno sleepily, stepping into the bathroom, four hours after the blonde's return from the laboratory.
Rufus turned abruptly. A click echoed through the sink as his hand swiped something into it. His eyes remained averted from the redhead's gaze.
"What are you doing anyway? You're acting weird."
"Washing my face. I had a strange dream, and I was sweating in my sleep. You startled me."
"Okay, well you get back to that, then. I've gotta pee." Reno continued to stare at the blonde as he walked over to the toilet.
Rufus turned, his own gaze averted to the sink. He pushed the needle out of the way and turned the water on. He splashed some of it on his cheeks, which had begun to turn pink.
Reno could be heard whistling a few feet away, and it seemed like an eternity had passed before the casual tune ended and the redhead walked out of the restroom.
"Do you want something to eat? I noticed that you never had your take-out." called the redhead from outside.
"Uh…yeah. Sure," Rufus called back, turning the water off and drying his hands and face. "I'm going to stay in here for a little. I didn't realize how dirty I'd gotten until I had tried to clean up a bit. I need a shower."
"I'll call the café, okay? What do you want?"
"I don't care. Surprise me." Rufus shut the door and turned the shower on, but he didn't climb in.
"…Alright. Whatever you say." Reno picked up the phone and dialed. Staying in the apartment of the Vice President had its advantages. In-room delivery was one of them.
"Oh, Mr. Vice President? I see you have returned? I hadn't heard the good news!" rang the obnoxiously high voice of the man on the other end who had taken the place of ex-barkeep and café manager Malita Cunningham.
The call was distorted over the sound of the running water in the bathroom. Rufus sunk to the floor, his second dose of Mako heating up his body just as the first had. The cabinets clacked under the weight of his back.
The voices outside the room stopped.
"Are you alright in there?" asked Reno, holding the phone to his palm.
"Yes, I'm fine," came the reply, an audible breathiness in its tone. "I'm perfectly fine."
But Reno was naturally suspicious, and he finished the order quickly and hung up the phone. He stepped up to the restroom door as quietly as he could, opening it slowly.
The cabinets banged harder with Rufus' quick jerk of surprise. Reno looked down on the pathetic display below him. Rufus turned away.
"What are you doing?" Reno hissed.
"That's none of your business."
"Like hell it isn't. I'm supposed to be watching you. What are you trying to hide from me?"
"I said that it's none of your damn business, Reno. I'm old enough to take care of myself. I don't need you breathing down the back of my neck." Rufus' face remained turned to the floor.
"Then why so guilty? Why won't you even look at me?" Reno peered onto the counter. The needle sat there, far more innocently than its owner. "What is this? Is this why you can't even have the courage to spare me a glance?"
Rufus clenched his left fist, but didn't speak.
"Look at me." Reno grabbed Rufus by the chin and forced his face toward him. "Look at me."
"There. Are you happy now?" Rufus said coldly, his gaze boring into Reno's pupils.
"…Mako." Reno let go of the blonde, turning away and leaning against the doorframe. "Why?"
"I am reclaiming my identity."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"The Mako is giving me my power back, and with it, my life." Rufus stood, and picked the syringe from its resting spot, drawing another vial from the case on the floor beside the sink.
Reno turned to him quickly. "What are you doing?"
"I don't think you understand. Do you? Do you see the necessity of this?"
"No. It's dangerous enough for a trained specialist to give Mako injections, let alone for somebody to give them to himself."
"It's in doses, Reno. I forced Hojo to tell me how to do this." Rufus filled the syringe with a new dose.
"Hojo. Great. That makes this a whole lot better." The redhead moved to take the needle from the blonde.
Rufus easily broke the grasp, and jabbed the needle's point into the neck of his lover. Reno recoiled, dropping to his knees as his blood began to heat up.
"What have you done to me, Rufus?"
"I've given you a taste of what it feels like to truly live."
Reno grasped his neck, letting out a short shriek. "What have you done?"
"Can't you feel it, Reno?" Rufus crawled forward, his eyes meeting those of the other man as they morphed slowly from green to a bright aqua.
"Why does it burn so much?"
"It's pure, unlike what they give the SOLDIERs. It's undiluted, straight from the ground."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Shh…" Rufus placed one finger against Reno's lips to quiet him. The blue-green eyes widened in shock as the ice-blue ones before them turned to slits.
Reno's muscles tightened. Yes, he could feel it now, so strong, so strange, so enlivening. he could feel the energy of the Mako course through his blood, like he had taken the strength of the dead and claimed it as his own.
But, already, Rufus could feel his dosage starting to wane. Soon after, the intensity of Reno's followed suit. The glow in both of their eyes faded slightly. The reminiscence of pain was overshadowed by the memory of power.
"More," was all that Reno said, falling back onto the floor and staring at the ceiling, his vision clouded over slightly with his quickly vanishing rapture. A smile formed on the lips of the blonde.
"The dosage is one injection every four hours. You wouldn't want to do something as dangerous as double-dosing, now would you?" Rufus said, his tone teasing as he stretched out over the redhead, their two bodies fitting perfectly against one another from the experience and recollection of their skin's touch.
"Screw you."
"We've been doing that a little much lately, don't you think?"
"Hmm," Reno smiled, his chest vibrating with the hum of the contented sound.
A knock sounded at the door.
"Room service," Reno whispered, his breath warm over Rufus' cheeks.
"Come in. The door is unlocked." The Vice President didn't bother to move from his place.
"They'll see us."
"I know. Do I look like I care?"
A thin woman with a chest large enough to have kept the customers after the death of two of the café's most popular employees stepped into the room with a bag of food. She looked down at the two figures on the carpet with a squeak.
"Sir…Sirs, where do you want me to put this?"
"Leave it there," purred Rufus, not looking up.
The woman made a remarkably speedy exit.
"There will be rumors," said Reno.
"There already are."
"Food," he said, changing subjects.
"Yes, food."
Miya: Well, so Rufus' finally getting some food in his stomach, eh? Maybe that's why he felt so weak? (Just kidding.) Don't know when the next chapter's coming, so don't expect it too soon. Spring break's about to end, so my schedule's going to get hectic again.