Author's Notes: So, basically, it's a character analysis piece, sorta. Lots of BNL influence on my writing because their music rocks. Question for the masses: why does Reeve run away? What is he running away from? WHO is he running away from? I don't know. I just know he's running. Not a long story, but it feels complete-ish to me.

Theme: Sunset

Red Sky

He looked out at the most beautiful sunrise he'd ever seen in his life. The sky, which should be azure normally but was a chalky gray here in Midgar, was painted with red. Not blood red, or the red of a good wine. No, it was the red that was really sorta pink like a grapefruit. Or the red of a kid blushing. The kind of red sky that sayings claimed sailors took warning from. Might have been from the clouds hanging over Midgar. Might have been from the normal dust in the air. For once Reeve didn't care and didn't intend to.

Behind him was a small apartment, nothing fancy at all. It was all he actually owned in the city. Amazing that an executive like him owned nothing but a small piece of property that wasn't even his in the long run. None of the hopes, dreams, not even his dignity belonged to him. Hadn't for a while now. He'd sold it all, sold his soul, to Shin-Ra. Even his heart and name was theirs now. All he had was the small bag on his shoulder with a few meager possessions like a sketch pad, his shaving kit, a comb. Nothing they would want. Nothing they couldn't replace with some other young impressionable kid who dreamt of the big times, like he once used to. Hell, even the one who had claimed to love him had found him easy to replace, so the mighty Shin-Ra shouldn't have too hard of a time of it, right?

In front of him was nothing but the city. Lifestream knew that it wasn't much of a city, despite all of his efforts. All the hope of the people was here, foolishly. They thought they could find a better life here. Find someone who loved you, get a good job, live on the plates, be i happy /i . An old dream, the human dream. Just as stupid as dreaming of flying without an air ship. Or dreaming of having super powers. Life didn't work that way. Midgar wasn't some magic cure-all for life's little problems. More like the Marlboro of the world. And if it was a Marlboro then Shin-Ra was Bad Breath and Reeve had somehow managed to get blind, confusion, poison, sleep, frog, mini, all of it in one fell swoop. The first time he'd realized it, Reeve had thought that he'd managed to avoid Doom on top of that. Turns out the count down was just stealthy. Every moment in the city brought him closer to that fatal moment.

Thing was, Reeve had no intention of being here when that counter reached zero. He had not intention of letting Shin-Ra have him for much longer. No more dead end relationship with a man that cheated on him. No more selling his ideas to those who would corrupt them. No more throwing his life away for some pipe-dream. It was time to stop existing, and start living.

Still, one couldn't help but wonder. After all, the saying did go '…red sky at morning, sailors take warning'.