Chapter Five
It wasn't Reno's fault for failing. I considered Reno a better man than I. I was too afraid to do the job myself, so instead I sent a little boy to do it- I played with his emotions, played with his heart, and all in an attempt to send him blindly into a cage with a ferocious lion. I heard the screams as I walked down the hall, I heard his cries for help, and his sobs of pain…but I got there too late. The deed was already done…
Reno laid on the bed, his face buried in the dirty blankets, sobbing like a baby. He was drenched in his own blood thanks to cuts and scratches Sephiroth inflicted on him. It was probably the second stupidest thing I had ever done in my life, but it was my fault he was in that horrible condition. I ran into the room, scooped up his frail body, and ran out- praying to whatever fucking God is laughing in heaven that Sephiroth wouldn't come out of the bathroom.
I slowly made my way down the hall, with the naked boy sobbing in my arms, dulling noting how no one even so much as glanced through the peep holes of their doors to see what the ruckus was about. They had stopped caring long ago- their hearts replaced with unapologetic apathy. I made a quick left at the end of the hall, and towards the only door that was graced with cold numbering. I kicked the door three times so that the owner would know it was me.
He swung the door open, emerging from the room with blue eyes a blazed with anger. He ran his fingers through his hair, tugging slightly as if to emphasis the frustration and anger that was eating away at his body.
"What the fuck happened?" He whispered harshly, as I pushed my self into the room, and laid Reno's bruised body on a bed.
"Rufus," I hissed, making sure he closed and locked the door before I continued, "What did you expect, he is only fifteen!"
"So? So what? You thought he was old enough to handle it!"
"Well clearly I was wrong!"
His big mouth snapped shut, and he didn't dare utter another word on the matter. I painfully looked away from Rufus, another little boy whose innocence was stolen, to Reno who began a series of painful coughs and gags. My fingers tentatively stroked his unruly red hair, despite the sick and twisted feeling that rose up like bile in my throat. I knew, the lease I could do in this situation, was try to sooth him as best I could.
"Are you ever afraid," Rufus suddenly said, as he lay some clothing on the bed for Reno, "that you are going to turn out like him?"
I juggled the question around my head for a few seconds, despite knowing the answer already. I was so weak, I didn't have to balls to admit, I could see myself turning into Sephiroth more and more everyday. How long did I have before I turned into a monster?
"Everyday," I said finally, earning a rough glare from Rufus. He suddenly made me feel dirty, so I roughly pulled my hand away from Reno, and stomped to the other side of the room.
I watched the blonde haired boy intently as he quickly healed and dressed Reno. The red head didn't move much, not even flinched when Rufus would put alcohol on the festering cuts. Passed out from the pain and humiliation- I remember that all too well. I may be twenty one, but I don't feel too much older than these boys. I am still a scared little fifteen year old student, under all these medals of a decorated SOLIDER. I have seen others, not as lucky as me, who quickly ended their lives once Sephiroth discarded them for younger boys. Maybe they were the lucky ones once you think about it. They will never grow up with the fear I have…
No. I won't grow up like that. He had to die so we all could live without fear, or pain, or anguish. We were born with the right to live…he took it away…we had to take it back.
"No more dilly dalling Rufus," I announced sternly, "If we are going to stop Sephiroth, we all have to come together and do it. One little boy can't kill off a monster as strong as him."
I could see Rufus' small body shake with the fear, "But…not everyone will give up their name- even the ones who know for sure have been raped by him."
"Well, who do we have so far…?"
The blonde took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket, using his nimble fingers to slowly open the tightly folded sheet. When fully opened, he took a second or two to examine the few names written in black ink- I could feel his own hesitation to read off the names…to betray the people he had coax into trusting him…
"There's only four names, other than me, you, Reno and Cloud," he began slowly, "Tomo, Alavro, Xavier, and Rhett. Their ages range from seventeen to twenty."
"There have to be more than that, Rufus."
"Those are the only four willing to give up their names. I almost caught three black eyes from the others who we suspected."
I clenched my fist, "Dammit. We don't have enough, and that's assuming Reno will be strong enough to try it again."
I could feel Rufus' cold blues eyes on me, "You know what we have to do right?"
Oh I did, I knew exactly what we had to do, but I wasn't going to like it. "We have to wake the dead right?"
It took Reno a day to fully open his dead green eyes, without abruptly shutting them…and screaming about how he was dead…I was beginning to think that he was too weak to go through the second half of the plan- which would leave us in quite the predicament. The whole reason why I choose Reno…why I thought he was the only one who could kill Sephiroth…because he was one of the luck ones, he found a place in that stone of a heart for real, untarnished love. Playing on that, I thought, he could muster up enough strength…well… no use dwelling on past mistakes. Time to correct them.
With Reno asleep, I was able to gather up the four others- it took some convincing but eventually they all agreed that it was time to stop Sephiroth. I told them to meet me in Rufus' room at six for the plan- that left me twelve hours to finally wake Cloud from his medically induced coma.
Anyway, while the doctors worked on Cloud, I went back to the room to check up on Reno and Rufus. To my surprise, Reno wasn't throwing a tantrum, and instead sat calmly on the bed as Rufus paced around nervously. The red head seemed too be way too calm for his own good…
But then he saw me, and his eyes changed from blank orbs, to little slits a blazed with anger. I knew what he was going to do next, and I allowed him. He stomped towards me, and punched me, hard, in the face, sending me stumbling towards the wall.
"You son of a bitch," he shouted, "You knew that was going to happen!"
I shook my head, "No I didn't, I honestly thought you could have handled it-"
"Well I couldn't! I am fucking fifteen year-"
"Since when have you allowed you age get in the way of what you desired?"
He stood straight, digging his hands into his skin to suppress the rage that surged within him freely. I couldn't blame him for hating me- but kicking my ass wasn't going to change his situation. He growled at me, and took his seat on the bed once again.
Rufus, who had been silent, decided to speak up, "What's the plan…"
Would I be an asshole further if I admitted my plan didn't exist? I had the people, I had the drive, but when I sat down to really think about what we could do, short of placing someone in a dangerous position- I came up empty. Sephiroth was stronger than us, when it came to both strength and respect- even Rufus, the son of the President, couldn't convince his father of Sephiroth's evil ways. We had to kill him, that much was obvious, but the only way we could possible do that, and get away with it, was too make it look like a suicide…
And how do you make a man who loves life too much throw himself out a window, or shoot himself in the head?
Well you have to break him.
"Give him a taste of his own medicine: do to him what he did to us," I announced, only to receiving puzzled glares from my younger counterparts.
"Are you smoking somethin'" Reno snapped, "You can't rape the willing."
"No," Rufus said, "But you can make him go insane…"
The shared the same sinister glint I had twinkling madly in my eyes. The evil part of us, the part of us that was begging to come out, began to rise and take over. We knew what we had to do now- what all eight of us had to do for ourselves, and for the other boys whose innocence was stolen.
And it wasn't going to be easy; we had to strip ourselves of morality and decency and ethics, and replace it all with sin, and death, and lust. It was a mix made for death. It was a beautiful tragedy, and it was going to shake up this campus. We were going to unlock our chains and beat Sephiroth with them..
Oh I could see the devious smiles that crept onto our faces- thinking already, we had won…
And if he knew then, what we all know now…I swear Zack would have sooner killed himself…