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Thank you all for the reviews! I feel so loved. I didn't know if it would be any good because it was just a half-assed plot bunny.
Chapter 2: Explanations
Reno was shaken awake a couple hours after being rescued. He was in Rufus' office along with the other Turks.
"Reno I know that this experience must be hard for you, and I know you still need rest to recover, but I need your report. What happened when you were captured?"
Reno shivered. He didn't want to remember it. Nevertheless, he needed to inform his boss of the procedures done to him. With a heavy sigh, Reno began to recall everything.
Reno was back in Hojo's lab. Hojo had just finished pushing the last syringe of mako into his vein before the real "fun," as Hojo put it, began. Because it was easy to overdose on mako and get mako poisoning, it had taken Hojo two whole days to put all of it in, without risking killing his test subject.
Once the mako was completely in his system, Hojo began his work. Hojo took up a small knife. He would need samples of Reno's body to test out the serum on Reno's cells. Reno grunted in pain as he felt the knife cut into him. Hojo, loving the look of pain, decided to cut deeper than necessary. Reno bit his bottom lip til it bled to stifle his cry of pain.
Hojo was kind of sad that he couldn't just experiment with this specimen. Oh well, he could always grab someone else on the streets.
He spent the rest of the third day testing on the skin and blood samples with the solution. While he experimented on these samples, he sent a glass dome over the table that Reno was strapped down to. When the dome had completely settled, Hojo flipped a switch which shot a beam of light over Reno's body. Intense pain flared throughout him as each and every cell of his body was pushed passed its maximum limit. Every person has a limit in strength, speed, etc. When Hojo worked for Shinra, Hojo created this beam to allow SOLDIERs to reach their maximum limit. Now, he was using the same beam to push Reno passed his limit, thus causing his body's degradation. He would wait the rest of the third day to see how the serum would take place. On the morning of the fourth day, the results came back positive on all the tests. He was a genius! He was the world's smartest man. He laughed maniacally to himself.
He smirked at Reno as he slowly took out the serum. He unscrewed to lid and forced it down Reno's throat. He was burning! The liquid made a trail all the way down. He felt like he had swallowed acid! His whole insides jerked in an attempt to get rid of the poison. He could feel every individual muscle ache in protest to the serum.
"….and that about sums up what Hojo was doing to me" Reno finished, his eyes not leaving the floor. What interesting floor patterns. Yep!
After recounting his story, Rufus had asked Reno what he planned to do about his situation. If it were up to Rufus, he'd tie Reno and Cloud up and throw them in a room together until the deed was done. Rufus may have been a cold-hearted bastard, but he still cared about his Turks, his family. He didn't want another Sephiroth roaming around, but he didn't want a dead Reno either. He couldn't risk either option, so that left plan C, which was to try and create a cure for the degradation process.
Reno refused to have sex with Cloud, despite the others' begging. Still, Reno stood by his answer. When asked why, he would respond, "I might be a Turk an'all, but I've still got my own honor codes, yo. To force someone to have a relationship with me when he might wanna be with someone else is low even for me, yo." And he left it at that.
Rufus was not happy, not happy at all. One of his Turks, his family, was captured and experimented on. He and the Turks had enlisted the help of Reeve Tuesti to track down Reno's whereabouts.
It took four days to find a location. What pissed Rufus off the most was that said location was right under their noses, literally. The abandoned warehouse was located in the slums which were shadowed by the plates on which the Shinra Corporation loomed.
Rufus still had Reeve looking into Hojo's possible hideout so he personally could kick his ass, then give Hojo the longest and most painful death he could think of. Just thinking of all the possible methods of torture brought a smile to the Shinra heir's face. Others who passed by the president would shudder in fear at the smirk.
As of the moment Reno was brought back, Rufus had forbid him from any more field assignments. So, that left Reno with paper work, which he'd just leave for Rude to do for him, meaning a lot of free time.
Reno was BORED! It took about a week before Reno actually broke down and started to actually DO his paper work. (GASP!)
He was on a tight leash. Rufus claimed it was because he wanted to monitor Reno for signs of the degradation, but Reno thought he actually did it to annoy the PLANET outta him. For Gaia's sake he wasn't a civilian, he knew how to take care of himself!
At least one of his dysfunctional family was with him at all times to keep an eye on him.
He sighed once more in irritation as he felt Tseng's presence behind him. He had decided to make the most of his 'babysitters' by turning it into a game: if he felt the presence of one of the Turks, he would try to lose 'em amongst the crowd of people. He even dressed out of uniform in a poor attempt at throwing Tseng off his trail.
He ducked into the entrance of the first bar he saw. It wasn't until he entered did he realize his mistake. He had entered the Seventh Heaven.
Tifa stared up with a smile to greet the new customer when her eyes landed on Reno. Her smile faltered when she noticed that he was alone, but a moment later she was beaming at said Turk.
As of late, Tifa had come to terms for her feelings for Cloud. She realized he didn't feel the same for her as she did for him. After time, she realized that she actually only loved him as a sister would her brother. It was only after she let Cloud go that she had started to notice Rude's affections for her.
About a month after the defeat of the remnants, she and Rude had started to date.
Reno shrugged and went up to the bar.
"Gimme somthing strong Tif'."
She sighed, but poured him a glass (not a shot, a glass!) of whiskey nonetheless.
He downed it in two gulps.
She tutted in disapproval, which quickly turned into concern when she looked at his face.
His face was serious, bordering on grave. He seemed to be lost in thought, which is never a good thing she thought.
She asked aloud, "Reno…"
"Hm?" he glanced up at her.
"…are you…alright?"
Reno smirked, "are ya worried 'bout lil ol' me?"
Her frown deepened, which mercifully Reno noticed and his smirk vanished without a trace as if it were never there to begin with.
More seriously he responded, "m'fine, yo. Don' worry 'bout't."
Her concern grew but she didn't voice it.
"Where's Rude? How…how was the mission?"
"Hm? Wha' mission, yo?"
"Don't play games with me, Reno, Rude had to cancel our date because of an emergency mission five days ago. He told me that all of the Turks had to drop whatever other mission they had to direct it towards this emergency. Since you're here, and you're his partner, then that means that he should be here too."
Reno stayed silent. This worried Tifa even more. What could have possibly happened? Just as she was about to voice her concerns and ask what happened, she heard the tinkling of the bell announcing another customer. The noise brought her eyes towards the door. Cloud had returned from another delivery.
Tifa smiled warmly at him before approaching the blond.
"Cloud," Tifa said, "I'm a bit worried about Reno. I think something happened to him on his last mission. Remember last week when I had that date with Rude scheduled? Well he had to cancel it, said it was because of an emergency mission he had. He was gone for four days and when I tried to pry information out of Reno, he fell silent! When does he EVER stop talking, Cloud? I'm beginning to get worried. Do you think it's something to do with Rude or something else?"
Cloud pondered over what Tifa had said, but didn't know what to say to her. His relationship with the Turks was a bit rockier than Tifa's. He didn't hate them, but that didn't make them his friends either.
Cloud, realizing that Tifa was waiting for a response, told her with a shrug that he didn't have any answer for her.
With a sigh, Tifa headed back to the bar.
Two hours passed with Reno still sitting in his seat, completely smashed.
"giv'me 'nothr one Tif'." Reno slurred.
"I think you've had enough" Tifa now thoroughly concerned stated to the obviously intoxicated redhead.
"no' hav'nt giv'm'nothr!" He held up the empty glass, expecting it to be filled. He glared up at her through bleary eyes when she refused.
"'ve go'th'gil, now gve'ma drin'!"
"Reno, is something wrong? Is Rude ok? I haven't seen or heard from him since five days ago."
" 's fine, now give'ma drin'!" He was getting angry. Why wouldn't she give him his damn drink!
"Reno, I don't think you should have anymore. What if you get alcohol poisoning?" Tifa replied. She was relieved that Rude was alright, but this meant that something else was wrong.
"an' wot'f I wan'tha'?"
"What?!" Tifa cried. "You can't be serious, Reno. His response only confirmed that something had happened.
Reno shrugged in reply.
Fortunately Cloud had overheard the last part of their conversation when he descended the stairs to talk to Tifa about his schedule for the next day.
Cloud decided that it was time to help Tifa out. So, he pulled Reno out of his seat. Reno stumbled, and grabbed onto Cloud for balance, all the while glaring up at him.
"Wha's th'deal yo?"
"Reno you're drunk" Cloud reasoned.
"So?"
"So, you're not drinking anymore. I'll call Rufus and tell him you're staying the night." Cloud replied.
"Don' need yer'elp!"
"I wasn't offering for YOUR sake, I was worried about all those civilians outside that might die if you tried to drive back." Cloud hissed.
He then proceeded to drag Reno upstairs to his room.
Cloud shoved some clothes into reno's hands.
"You reek of booze. Take a bath first then get changed. While you get cleaned up, I'll call your boss." With that, Cloud shoved Reno into the bathroom. Cloud sighed and rubbed his temples. This was going to be a long night. He could already feel the oncoming headache that the loud redhead always brought forth in him.
Reno could feel the effects of the alcohol already leaving him. Damn mako injections! They make it damn near impossible for one to get drunk! How the hell did Strife ever manage to do it?
Reno did as he was told for once. Half an hour later, he was scrubbed clean and dressed in Cloud's clothes. Although he was taller than Cloud by an inch, the clothes still hung loose on his thin frame. He'd always been a bit underweight. It was one of the signs of poor nutrition from living in the Slums for most of his life. Despite the amount of money he received from work, he never really bothered to use it to buy much food. He didn't see the point. Why buy food, when there's alcohol?
He came back into Cloud's room.
"So, what's wrong?"
"Wha' d'ya mean, yo?"
"You've been acting strange since you got here and you've had more mako injected in you." Cloud motioned towards Reno's eyes as explanation. "So, what happened?"
Reno was startled. "How'd ya know?"
Cloud shrugged, "Your eyes are glowing more vibrantly than normal."
Reno nodded at the plausible answer before replying solemnly, "d'ya really wanna know?"
Cloud thought about it for a moment. Did he really care enough to know? Curious as to what would make the fiery redhead act this way, he finally responded, "yes."
Reno thought about whether or not he should tell Strife. He didn't know why he wanted to tell Cloud, but he wanted to. In the end, he decided to tell Cloud the abridged version, though only if he swore not to tell anybody. This version consisted of Hojo, clones, and Reno's degredation. He also told Cloud that he needed a specific person to have sex with in order to stop it. Reno failed to mention who though.
Cloud stiffened as Hojo was mentioned, however, he let the redhead continue his story without interruptions.
When Reno was finished with his story, Cloud pondered over the new and alarming information before replying carefully, "Do you know who this specific person is?"
Reno nodded his affirmation.
"Then why don't you do it with her."
"Him" Reno corrected. "An' 'sides, I can't. Just 'cause I'm a Turk, it doesn't mean I don't have any morals. I'm not about to force myself on to someone just because I don't wanna die, yo. That wouldn't be fair to 'im."
Cloud couldn't believe it, Reno had morals? He now looked at Reno in a new light. He nodded at Reno. It was a solemn gesture to show he understood and that he even held a little bit more respect for the redhead.
Noticing Reno's yawn, Cloud looked at the alarm clock on his bedside desk and swore. Was it really that late?
Cloud gestured to the ground. There were spare blankets and some pillows lying on the floor arranged into a makeshift bed for the exhausted Turk. Just because Cloud had a little respect for the Turk didn't mean that he'd offer him his bed!
Reno removed the outer layer of covers and hopped in, then pulled the covers back over himself.
Soon they drifted off to sleep.
A/N: Well, it's a little bit longer than the first chapter.
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