- A Final Fantasy VII Reno Fanfiction - by Nightcrawler666 -

Feelin' sorry for Reno at the moment, so I've told Lou to help him recover… XD

Also, a HUGE shout out to:

! KagumeUchiha101 !

Thnx for putting me on alert and in ur favourites. U made my day! xXx

Chapter 8 - And again

As Lou entered the bar, she could (still) see Zack trying to figure out what happened to his phone when she hung up, Tifa being uselessly bear-hugged in the corner by Cloud, and Aerith huddled over a seemingly dead body, crying. Lou hoped it was only seemingly dead.

She ran over, the big floppy ears on her bunny slippers scuffing lightly on the floor. At first she hesitated to look, then she couldn't bring herself not to. It was a sorry sight, especially in the eyes of a Turk, to see their second-in-command in such a terrible state. Lou bit back the tears and went to Cloud, one of the only two who weren't crying.

"What happened to him?" She asked, hearing (or imagining, she wasn't sure) her voice waver somewhere in the middle. Cloud looked up at her with similar eyes to her own and she turned away, lest he notice that.

"I-… We don't really know. It had been at least an hour before Zack called you. Aerith's been going at it ever since she got here." He said, gesturing towards the healer with the hand that wasn't wrapped tightly around his wife. Lou made that her next stop, taking extreme care not to look at Reno. She feared crying in front of these people, despite her considering them as her friends.

"Aerith?" She asked, then was mildly surprised when the healer looked up. Lou hadn't expected her to.

"Yes, sweetheart?" The ancient asked, looking back to Reno as soon as she saw Lou there. She looked back up after seeing the flash of pink in her hair, then continued with the restore materia, unconsciously noting what she had just seen.

"Is he going to be alright?" Lou asked. The ex-SOLDIER watched a single tear fall onto the bar next to Reno's body and silently acknowledged that he probably wasn't. Then, she ran back home and poured her heart out onto her sofa.

3 weeks later and Reno, yet again, woke up in a hideous white room. But it wasn't at ShinRa this time. His vision was blurry, and a splitting headache was cracking slowly across his skull. As he sat up, he saw a blur of pink and blue.

"He's awake!" Reno heard an all-too-familiar voice say. It was Zack, in all of his juvenile pride. "Aerith!"

After a long, heavy wait for the painkillers to kick in, Zack and Aerith tried their best to get the truth from the Turk. With every question, Reno answered the same 'Does it matter? No.' and received the same desperate looks from Aerith.

"Well then that's just it." Zack said, yanking his phone clumsily out of his pocket and dialling a number. Reno's eyebrows peaked his forehead in curiosity and he tried to lean in for a better look.

"Who're ya callin'?" Reno asked. Aerith glanced at the screen and giggled, shoving Zack's shoulder.

"Hey. Louisa? It's Zack. Reno-" Zack pulled the phone from his ear and stared at it for a while. "Oh…"

"Reno!" Lou screamed, barging past nurses after seeing her favourite red-headed Turk was awake and alive. He fell back to his bed and sighed, muttering murderous curses to Zack. When he looked back to Lou, he noticed how big her grin was, and how her Mako-infused eyes were glowing brighter than ever. She was wearing her hair down for the first time, but the pink ribbon was still there; as a hair band, keeping her bangs out of her face. Reno couldn't help but smile. 'Damn!' he thought. 'I'm going soft…'

She reached him eventually, holding him tighter than last time. He felt her soft golden hair on his face and returned the hug, all the while smiling madly.

"Reno, I'm so glad to see you!" She said, cupping his face in her hands and making him look up at her. She was wearing a pale yellow tracksuit, and a golden locket hung loosely around her slim neck. Reno was still smiling, and hadn't noticed Tseng, Elena and Rude had also tagged along. Weird, they were all in gym clothes…

"Reno, how are you feeling?" Tseng asked, then Elena poked her head over his shoulder and pinched his cheek.

"First question's mine. Reno, how are you feeling?" She said, grumpily at first but beaming with radiant joy at the actual question. Rude rolled his eyes behind his shades and watched as Reno simply nodded and murmered something along the lines of 'Fine, why does everyone ask that?'. Lou span around in circles jumping up and down, buzzing with excitement just like Elena. She'd taken Rude's hands in her own and was bouncing around in a manic dance before him, screeching in the most annoying of her voices "He's back! He's back! Reno's finally back. Rude smiled and let go of Elena, walking over to Reno.

Reno almost yelped when Rude picked him up with strong arms and held him close.

"I missed you, buddy!" He said. Aerith and Zack were both falling about in fits of laughter as they watched Reno's slim face turning purple, and Elena was controlling Tseng's arms in robotic motions, imitating a dance with jiving about herself.

"Rude, I- no air!" Reno gasped, strangled and deprived of oxygen. He was prepared to sigh in relief when his feet finally touched the floor but he had nothing left in him. Rude let out a seldom-heard chuckle, and put on a seldom-seen smile while watching his friend catching his breath. When Reno looked up he greeted Tseng with a hearty handshake and turned to embrace Lou again, longing just to touch her.

"Where's Lou?" He asked, shocked that she wasn't there. Aerith snapped her head up from Zack's shirt and her brow crumpled in characteristic worry. Zack took one look at his girlfriend and planted a kiss on her forehead. Then he stood up and spoke exclusively to Reno.

"Come on then…"