Salvation

AN: I own nothing in this story. Final chapter here, hope it's a satisfactory ending. Please R&R.

After eating the dinner that Tifa had made with her usual skill, Reno stood up and gestured for her to come closer.

"Are you going to tell me now?" At her question, Reno nodded.

"But first, let's take a walk."

Tifa noticed the way Reno was staring off into the distance, his gaze somewhat vacant. She snuggled up to him, a hand wrapping around his waist and her head touching his left shoulder as they continued their walk. Reno looked at her then, his eyes refocusing on her face.

"You can take your time, I'm not going anywhere," Tifa said. Reno cleared his throat.

"I never knew my parents..." he began. He heard a child sobbing from a far distance then and he remembered, even as he continued telling his past to Tifa.

The day he was saved...

The semicircle of orange light seemed to welcome Reno as he stepped out into the arena, the illumination marking the adolescent's still developing muscles. He had become a favorite for the orphanage's clients and tonight was expected to be as wonderful for them and their twisted pleasure as any other.

"Ah, Reno...we've selected a newcomer for your first opponent tonight. Treat her as well as you do the others, okay?" A cry came from the crowd of children as a wide eyed girl was shoved out under the light. Her ten year old frame was rather skinny and she looked almost malnourished. Her deep brown eyes looked up at Reno, body trembling in fear.

"P-please...no..." the child whimpered. Reno stepped forward slowly, inching closer and closer to her. His arm raised as he came within a few feet of her. An adult came into the light then, one of the customers, his face swimming with primal lust.

"Kill her..." The man moved closer, sweat gleaming on his fat face.

Reno waited.

The chubby man moved closer then, close enough to touch.

Reno struck. Before the customer knew what hit him his arm was grabbed and he was flung over Reno's shoulder and went sailing through the air, landing with a crash amongst some of the recording equipment. Sparks crackled and soon a fire had broken out. Children screamed and moved away from the blaze while adults swarmed, trying to quell the rising inferno.

Reno stared into the girl's eyes.

"Run away and- but a rifle butt was slammed into the back of his head before he could give anymore instructions to the child. But as the light faded from his eyes, he managed to catch a glimpse of the girl vanishing up the stairs.

So he had managed to do one good thing in his life at least, he remembered thinking to himself.

A song suddenly pierced through his passed out senses, the voices angelic. The first lyric was sung by a girl's voice and the second by a boy's. And this is what it was:

"My mother has killed me."

"My father is eating me."

"My brothers and sisters sit under the table."

"Picking up my bones and they will bury them."

"Under the cold- but Gretel stopped singing. She must have noticed that Reno was no longer unconscious.

"Nee-sama, he's awake!" She sounded delighted, like Christmas was just around the corner. Reno's eyes flickered and then opened. He soon found that he was shackled to a wall, his wrists manacled and arms locked above him. He was also naked except for some underwear and he was submerged up to his thighs in cold water.

"I see that, Nii-sama," Hansel said. Gretel moved closer to Reno then and traced a finger along his chest.

"Reno-sama, you shouldn't have done that. Now everyone's really upset." Hansel also came forward at this, his fingers cupping Reno's cheek.

"Nii-sama's right. You made us cry, being so rude. But it's not all bad...now we get to play with you," Hansel said softly, a smile on his face. Electricity crackled then and Reno saw that Hansel had a tazer in his hand. He pushed it against Reno's chest gently before activating it, Reno's body arching as the volts traveled through his body.

"Nee-sama, let me have a turn!" Gretel exclaimed, pouting. Hansel then handed his sister the tazer and she turned it on before shoving it in the water. Blood pooled from Reno's mouth and he started to thrash around, the manacles biting into his wrists as his body sagged once the tazer was removed.

The twins kept shocking him for about ten minutes before they started to get bored. Smoke rose from Reno's body but his heart still beat.

"He has such beautiful eyes Nii-sama," Hansel said after several minutes. Gretel nodded.

"That he does, Nee-sama, what should we do with them?" Hansel produced a knife then and gave it to Gretel, bowing a little.

"Ladies first, Nii-sama." Gretel bowed back and kissed her brother.

"Why thank you Nee-sama." Gretel moved closer to Reno then and cupped his right cheek.

"Reno-sama, you have a handsome face but somethings missing," Gretel mused. Her face brightened when an idea struck her. Taking the knife, she moved the point to the upper left corner of his right eye. Stabbing lightly, she dragged the blade in a crescent shape roughly before pulling it out. Reno screamed at the intense pain and Gretel chuckled.

"The blood suits you Reno-sama..." The girl then licked along the bloody trail she had created, moaning in pleasure. Breaking apart after a few moments, she handed the blade to Hansel.

"Be careful, Nee-sama, we don't want to injure him too badly or else we won't have anything to play with for a long time."

"Don't worry, Nii-sama." Hansel moved to Reno's left then and gave him a matching crescent wound. He then mimicked Gretel's action and licked up some of Reno's blood. Turning to Gretel once he was finished, he smiled.

"I'm going to report to the adults, Nii-sama, okay?" Gretel nodded.

"I won't play with him until you get back, Nee-sama." Hansel then left and Gretel observed the still bleeding form of the young boy.

"You're a good person Reno-sama..." Reno stirred a little at this but didn't do anything else. "I can tell." Once she was finished speaking, Gretel started wiping the blood off of the knife, humming the song from earlier to herself. This continued for several minutes until the door burst open, showing an agitated Hansel.

"Nii-sama, Shinra is here!"

"Can we kill them, Nee-sama?" Gretel asked. Hansel thought about this before nodding.

"If we go now, we could surprise them." Hansel then took Gretel's arm and they ran off.

Reno heard gunfire and several screams then before silence reigned. He tried to move his body but couldn't muster up enough energy. Finally the silence was broken by the door being kicked open, several armed men in suits pouring into the room.

One of them approached Reno. Reno opened his eyes a little and saw his Wutain features. He was about 18 or 19 and he looked with compassion at the captive redhead.

"You're going to be alright, you're free."

"P..promise?" Reno managed to say, blood spilling from his lips along with the question. The man nodded.

"Of course. What's your name?" As he was talking the man undid Reno's shackles and caught his limp frame.

"R-reno..."

"It's nice to meet you Reno, my name is Tseng." Reno then passed out and he heard Tseng's voice calling for a medic.

Reno paused here and took a breath, not meeting Tifa's face. She was sobbing silently and hugging onto Reno's side tightly.

"Apparently the girl I saved managed to get help, though I don't know how she did it," Reno said softly. "The twins were killed in the ensuing firefight and Tseng's commander got taken out, leaving him in charge of the Turks."

"And so you joined them..." Tifa whispered. Reno nodded. "What happened to the girl?"

"I don't know. I never found her," Reno replied. He stopped walking then and Tifa finally realized where they were. The Plate Memorial.

It was constructed by the citizens of Edge and had the names of all those who had died in the incident engraved all along it's surface. Reno and Tifa approached it, Reno's fingers tracing along it's side.

"Then I started a new kind of killing." He paused here and looked into Tifa's eyes. She noticed tears were trailing down his face. "Maybe I should have died back there, then these people would still be alive." Tifa hugged him tightly then and shook her head back and forth.

"No...you deserved life just like anybody else. Thank you for telling me," she said gently.

"I've lived two lives, Tifa. The first as a killer, the second as a Turk. But any life begins by simply living it...and even though I don't deserve someone like you, would you stay with me for my third?" In response Tifa kissed him deep on the lips, chastely, and once they had unlocked their lips, she kissed away his tears.

"I'll stay with you Reno, as long as you'll have me." Reno's eyes got a bit brighter at this and he finally returned her embrace.

"Promise?" he whispered into her neck.

"Yeah...I promise," Tifa replied just as softly.

A month later when Elena and Rude were over for dinner, the blond noticed the ring on Tifa's finger. Once she realized what was going on, she squealed and hugged both Tifa and Reno tightly. After the congratulations were given, Reno looked at Elena with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Laney, did I meet you somewhere before I became a Turk?" Elena looked into Reno's face then and gave him a smirk.

"Why would you think something like that Reno?" Reno just ruffled her hair and made a stupid blonde joke, causing Elena's cheeks to redden and puff out in indignation.

She wouldn't tell him about the first time she did see him, surrounded by shadowy figures in that cold basement. She wouldn't tell him how frightened she was as he walked up to her, eyes promising death. She wouldn't tell him how she ran with all her might and finally managed to find help.

At least not yet. That time would come later, but for now she needed to remind him of the present, of their friendship, to protect him just as he had done for her all those years ago, and make him realize just how good of a person he truly was.