Chapter 2: Memories

"Well, well, if it isn't Reno. How many times has it been that you've failed?" My boss asks me. Ugh. What I wouldn't give to have him disappear. It's not that I don't want to have that Ancient captured. She's sneaky, alright. I admit it; a girl outsmarts me.

And besides, I'm having my own problems too. That spiky chocobo head… forget it. "You better not fail again this time. President isn't too happy about the consistency of your failure, you know? I bet even Rufus can't save your ass this time." Rufus. Rufus. Rufus. It's all your damn fault. Why'd you come in that night…?

"Reno… Open up."

"Goddamnit Rufus, you're drunk again?" I said as I opened the door for him. My room isn't much compared to his, but it's comfortable enough.

"Oh man… Did you know? Do you know that… it's my birthday today…?" Shit. Was it? I must've forgotten. But my train of thought was interrupted by him puking all over my carpet.

"Fuck yo!" Man, this isn't a pretty sight. "Man, just sleep in my bed, I'll get this cleaned up." I went to the washroom and started looking for towels. I was frustrated by just knowing how bad the mess is, and suddenly Rufus comes in.

"Reno, I love you." What the fuck? "Come." I was so mesmerized; I didn't know what to do. I just followed him. He stumped across the room, and finally made it to the bed. He pulled me down towards him, and pushed me down on my bed. He held me down tight, and started kissing me frantically. That puke-breath of his, man… Horrible taste. I tried pushing him off, but half of myself wanted to give in. After a few unsuccessful tries, it was now me who kissed him passionately with hunger. I haven't done anything like this for a while; it's somewhat refreshing to do it with someone new. We kissed for so long that I couldn't bear it anymore. I took off my pants, and he quickly followed, except his attempt was really futile. I helped him undo his belt and pulled down his pants; and inevitably, we started grinding our bodies together.

"Reno," He moaned. I couldn't help but smile at that mischievous look of his. I took the lube from my bed-drawer and started to work on him and myself. We continued passionately kissing and grinding, and I got too lazy to finish lubing him up. I turned him around, and starting mindlessly screwing him.

And it was then that I heard the door click. And even in the dim light, I saw the chocobo head. And a second later, the figure was gone with the door left open. Damn I shouldn't have given him the keycard.

"Well? Are you going to get her or no?" Tseng continues, interrupting me.

"You know I'm just gonna screw up, why don't you go get her?" I tease.

"Well?" He says in a deeper, more frightening kind of tone, but you could still see the red flushing face of his. I heave a sigh in defeat, and tell him that this is my last try and if I mess up, he might as well send Rude or something; he is better with girls. So I grab my EMR, my goggles, and my keys and hop on the Heli. I assign three Troopers to go to the Church of the Slums, hoping that we'll see her there. She's always there attending her flowers.

"Aeris… Run!" I yell. Why did we have to confront him here?

"Cloud, I'm not leaving you alone; I know an escape route, follow me." I follow her, hoping that she really knows what she is doing. We run across some stairs, and up the ladder we go, I tell her to follow me now as I jump across the wooden rails on the roof. She tries and follows, but slips and falls all the way down. Sigh, girls.

The ShinRa Troops quickly runs up, not missing their opportunity, and Aeris yells, "Cloud! Help!" I tell her to hold on, but I'm stuck, not literally, but mentally I am. I swear to god, I'm not going back down there, so I decide to push the brown wooden barrel, aiming carefully. It knocks out two of the three soldiers, and Aeris is forced to fight the third by herself. Amazing, I find that she's pretty good at handling herself. She expertly dodges the attacks, and attacks her opponent swiftly with her staff.

When we settle down, and she comes up by herself, taking her time, we realize that Reno of the Turks is gone. And all the possibilities of why he is gone are countless in my mind.

We walk slowly together, Aeris and I, not having a destination in particular.

"Don't you have to go home?" I ask her. She tells me that she has no curfew and not to worry. And that she likes to stay out here. I enjoy the company… I haven't had company like this for a long time. It isn't like he is good company. At most, he's good in bed; I'll give him that.

"Whatcha thinking?" Aeris asks me. We're both really bored, and just sitting on top of the building few blocks away from the church we ran away from.

"Nothing."

"You want to come to my place?" Wow. I just met this girl, and she wants me in her house already. But I don't deny the offer, I want a place to rest; so I agree and follow her. We walk and walk and suddenly she blurts out, "Thanks, earlier. I don't know what they're after me for."

"So that wasn't your first time?" I ask, surprised. She shakes her head and tells me that it's about the eighth time now, and every time, it's that same Turk. Eight times, huh. Reno, you're a disgrace. I chuckle inside. She catches me and asks me what's so funny. I tell her that the Turk must be bad if it takes him that many tries and not being able to succeed.

"Hey! It's not his fault, I'm just good." She says to defend herself. And I remind her that it was me, today, who saved her.

We finally arrive to her house. It's gorgeous. I walk around the garden myself while Aeris had to do a little explaining, and I admire the view. The red flowers, the orange, the yellow, and the white; all blend in together so nicely… just like…

"It's your birthday today, isn't it?" How'd he know? "I was just wondering… you know? Maybe you'd want to come and crash at my place?" How do I reject that…?

I followed this semi-stranger. Well, not really. I remembered that he's the Turk who was in charge of my training. Apparently, he knew Zack as well. It took us a while to reach his level in the ShinRa building. Level A3. The floor for the Turks, unreachable by stairs.

"Follow me." He opened the door to his room, and it was pitch black. I went in and he closed the door. My heart was beating. The lights turned on, and Zack was there, standing beside a nicely-made cake, "Happy Birthday!"

I was still quite shocked… There were two, or three, more other Turks, that I didn't recognize. But apparently they were there for the party.

"Zack said he wanted to use my room for your birthday, I'd figure that we can just have a huge party together, ya?" The redhead seemed friendly, but all too friendly. He came up to me and said, "Hey, you know, this is not much of a present or anything, but here you go." It was a necklace, with a shining materia, which shone with bright crimson and tangerine yellow. I stared at it, and still wondered why he would give me such a thing. "Zack said that you would like it." I looked over to Zack, and he gave me a wink. A wink I knew too well.

"You coming in?" Aeris comes out of the house, interrupting my thought. She says mother

Is okay with it and that I can stay for the night.

I don't waste a lot of time. I thank her mother and Aeris for letting me stay, and find a room to sleep in. When I prepare to go to bed, Aeris knocks on the bedroom door.

"Ya?" I reply, suggesting that it's okay for her to come in, and so she does. She says good night, and that she knows that I'll be leaving tomorrow. She asks me to wake her up, so she could give me a goodbye or something. I tell her good night, and I start to doze off.

"I see you're wearing it." He pointed out that I had the necklace sticking out. I loved this necklace. I'm not sure was it because Reno gave it to me, or Zack said that I would like it. Nonetheless, Zack's not here anymore, and I'm with Reno. I take it in my hand and stare at the wondering colours that seem to change over time. From honey yellow, to a soothing orange, and to a hint of lime green. And without warning, I threw him a hug.

"What the hell, yo?" He pushed me off, like he always did. He never liked signs of affection, especially out in the open. "Let's go get a drink," he asked me, and I was fine with it. I wasn't going to be all bothersome that night, I just wanted to spend some time with him. We hadn't been together for very long. I was training for SOLDIER, and he was the leader for our trainee-group. I was on my mission with Zack after that and didn't see Reno for a while. Shortly after Reno gave me this necklace, Zack had his accident. But I didn't remember much of it, I was with him, and the next thing I knew, he was gone. Dead in front of me. I was so confused… and now here with Reno.

I wake up to the sound of the birds outside. It's rare to hear the birds chirping away, especially in the slums of Midgar. I slowly walk down the stairs, careful not to wake Aeris up, and I approach the living room. I thank Aeris' mother and then I leave the house. I need a way to get back to AVALANCHE. I really want my money. I start to walk towards the direction of Sector 7, and mid-way to there, I realize that I had forgotten my sword. I turn around, and I bump into an enormous object. What the hell? It was a Hell House, and not having my weapon, I try to evade battle, but it's no use. I left all my materia on the sword and I'm stuck here with a huge house that moves. Now I know why Tifa fights with her fists.

The monster rams me down with multiple attacks as I have nothing with me. I can't stop the attacks, but I do try to fend off most of the attacks by blocking with my arms. I punch it as hard as I can, and all it does is flinch a bit. It walks up to me and drops right on me, giving me a huge headache. I feel dizzy and soon realize that my wounds are bleeding badly and my whole body starts aching. I fall down, and a few seconds later, I see my enemy running towards me and I fall unconscious.

A/N: . Sorry, slow update. Please Review! Cloud's a little weak huh. But don't worry, he's a dynamic character P. He'll soon change… for the better… or worse?