Authors Note: I know that I usually safe these things for the end but I don't feel like that today. I'm sorry it took so long for this chapter and the last one to post but I've been pretty busy preparing for finals and my AP is more work than it's worth sometimes. I've got a week of break coming up so I should be able to add more to this and to Am I Better Off? so don't think I'm ignoring my stories :) Now for my usual request, Read and review please!
Reno struggled in his sleep as his mind began to torment him with thoughts of the night before. He was back in the bathroom watching Arty and Chase draw on the ceiling in Fay's blood. He moved to lash out at them, to kill them if he could but they turned on him and began to stab him with glee in their eyes. He screamed and thrashed to get away but no matter how hard he hit them they kept stabbing. He punched and bit and kicked but it didn't have any effect on the specters plunging their knives into his chest. He could almost feel the slicing pain as Arty pulled the knife down his chest, splitting him in two. He struggled and screamed and clawed but Chase held his arms down as Arty dragged the knife down through his stomach.
"Reno! Reno wake the fuck up dammit!" Reno heard the voice but it didn't register as he continued to thrash. "Dammit Reno wake up!"
Reno woke with a scream. He could feel a heavy weight on top of him and he immediately remembered the dream and tried to throw it off.
"Reno stop struggling dammit! I'm not going to hurt you!" Rude held Reno's arms against his sides and tried to hold him still.
"Rude?" Reno's voice was weak with fear as he struggled blindly.
"Yes you idiot! Who the hell else would be here?" Reno's eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness and he saw Rude hovering above him panting as he worked to keep the red-head down.
Reno stopped struggling, "What'd I do?"
"You punched me in the face and then started trying to claw my heart out that's what you did!" Rude continued to hold Reno down, "Are you gonna attack me again if I let you up?"
Reno looked down and saw that he had ripped Rude's shirt and that there were scratches all along his friends chest and neck. There were even a few bite marks on his arms. "No."
Rude sighed and rolled off of Reno, lying on his side. "Nightmare?"
"Yeah." Reno shivered and continued to pant, the dream still fresh in his mind.
"What about?" Rude propped himself up on his elbow and looked Reno over.
Reno ran a hand over his face. "Chase and Arty."
"I'm guessing that's why you were trying to beat the shit out of me?" Rude smiled weakly.
"Yeah. I dreamt they were stabbing the shit outta me yo! It was freakin scary." Reno began to tremble as the vivid dream began to replay itself in his mind.
Rude grabbed Reno and pulled him into a tight hug as he felt his friend start to tremble violently, "It was just a dream Reno."
Reno buried his head in Rude's chest and took deep breaths to try and calm himself as Rude ran a soothing hand up and down his back. "I know yo. It was just so real! The knife looked the same, I could feel it when it went in!" Reno let out a choked sob.
Rude sighed and squeezed Reno tighter, "It'll be alright, I'd never let that happen."
Reno wrapped his arms around Rude and gave his friend a hug, "I know."
Rude held Reno as he felt him drift into sleep. He wished he could go do the same but now his mind was racing again. He had only just fallen asleep when Reno had begun to sleep-attack him. He heard Reno whimper with fear and he braced himself to hold his friend back if another nightmare came along. Reno pressed himself so hard into Rude's chest that he was fairly sure the red-head could feel his spine. He murmured words of comfort into Reno's ear as he laid awake waiting for sleep.
When morning finally came neither of them were well rested. Reno had continued to wake up frightened and Rude had never been able to get back to sleep. They both tried to act awake and happy for each other but they couldn't completely hide their exhaustion. They left the hotel quickly, anxious to get somewhere else.
Rude led the way again as they traveled through the slums. Reno stayed fairly quiet, a sure sign that he was still troubled about the dreams and the night before. Rude didn't mind the silence though, it allowed him to think. He tried not to let his mind drift to his mother by focusing it on finding somewhere safe for them to stay from now on. He looked back and saw that Reno was staring at the ground with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders slumped more than usual. He hadn't even made an attempt to smoke all day which was something that almost never happened.
"You alright Reno?" Rude questioned when they stopped their aimless wanderings to buy lunch.
"I'm fine." Reno toyed with his fork.
"Where do you think we should go?" Rude asked as he pushed his food around on his plate.
"I don't really care yo. We can find another hotel or we can try and rent an apartment or we could just claim squatters rights somewhere. Doesn't bother me a bit." Reno stabbed his food repeatedly as he talked.
"Let's try for an apartment somewhere." Rude pushed his barely touched food away and stood up.
"Sounds like a plan yo." Reno stabbed viciously at a piece of broccoli before following suit.
They wandered for a while more. Rude found one of the few actual apartment buildings in the slums and negotiated a price for it with the owner of the building. The room was furnished and had two bedrooms, something rather fancy in the slums. The main room wasn't large and it connected directly to an even smaller kitchen. Reno set his stuff into one room while Rude took another. The silence was starting to bother Reno but he didn't want to end it either. He was still shaken by the dreams he had had the night before and he was more than happy to let Rude make the decisions.
Rude walked into Reno's new room and sat on his bed, "Weird having your own room eh?"
"Yeah. Never have had one to myself before." Reno smiled and sat beside Rude, running his hand through his hair.
Rude leaned forward rested his chin on interlocked fingers. "I wanted to let you know, yesterday at the gas station I called the cops."
"Why?" Reno was surprised. "I thought you didn't want them involved!"
"We were long gone by then and I couldn't just let her sit until someone found her, it could have taken months. I didn't tell them our names but I did tell them what happened in there. I didn't say anything that would lead them back to either of us but I figured I should tell you in case someone puts two and two together." Rude sighed and closed his eyes, "I just couldn't have someone think it was a messed up prostitution thing."
Reno placed a hand on Rude's back, "I understand. I don't want that either. I was actually going to suggest we do that but I figured it would piss ya off."
Rude looked back at him and smiled, "Good thing we can always seem to read each others minds eh?"
Reno grinned form ear to ear, "Damn straight yo!"
They left for work later that night in a better mood, they weren't happy but they weren't so solemn anymore. They took their positions outside of the Honeybee Inn and were glad that the customers didn't expect them to be kind. Reno ignored most of the customers he usually sniped with and Rude was quieter than normal.
"Yo-yo boy! Corneo wants you!" Scotch called as he walked up to Reno.
"Yo-yo boy?" Rude snickered.
"It's cause he says 'yo' all the time. Think of it as a pet name from me and the boys." Scotch crossed his arms and glared at a few of the rowdier customers. "Get lost whackjobs! If you already been told you can't get in then stop trying!"
"Why's the boss want me?" Reno asked as he swapped spots with Scotch.
"How the hell am I supposed to know? Just get your ass up there before I kick it." Scotch leaned against the wall and pulled out a cigarette. "Got a light Rude?"
"How come he doesn't have a nickname?" Reno glared at Rude as he chuckled and handed Scotch the spare lighter he kept around for Reno.
"Because he scares the shit outta the boys so they don't wanna offend him." Scotch laughed as he lit up. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"
"I'm going I'm going!" Reno threw his hands up and ran in the direction of the mansion as a few customers cat-called and wolf-whistled behind him.
When Reno reached Corneo's room he stopped to catch his breath. He knew Corneo didn't like people panting all over the place when they were summoned inside, he only enjoyed panting when he caused it. He knocked once his breath was back and heard Corneo grant him entry. He pushed the door open with a smile, "What can I do for ya Don?"
"Come sit down Reno, we need to talk." Reno did as he was told and sprawled lazily on the chair he had used the first time he had entered the room.
"What's on your mind yo?" Reno threw Corneo a cocky grin.
"You're in trouble with some not so nice people Reno." Corneo sighed as he swirled his drink.
"What?" Reno sat up, suddenly alert. "Who has it out for me?"
"Someone I can't say no to." Corneo avoided looking at Reno as he took a sip of his drink.
"I haven't done anything! I haven't borrowed money or done drugs or any of that shit! Who are you taking about yo?" Reno stood up, waving his arms as he talked.
"Shinra." Reno heard the voice behind him but he was pinned face first against the desk before he had time to react.
"Sorry Reno. I really liked you, hoped that someday you'd be in the same league as Scotch. Guess that won't happen now." Corneo smiled and walked out of the room, "Don't rough him up to bad, he's valuable."
"What the hell do you want?" Reno's voice was muffled by the desk. He struggled to push himself up but his arms were forcefully wrenched behind him. "I didn't do anything!"
"You didn't have to do anything. It's been years that we've looked for you Reno. You hid surprisingly well. We probably wouldn't have found you if we hadn't seen a picture of you found at your friends house last night." Reno could hear the sneer in the mans voice. "The police turned it in thinking that the person who reported the murder might be related to the victim. You shouldn't have turned yourself in, we thought you were smarter than that."
"Guess I'm not so you'll have to look elsewhere for a new lackey eh?" Reno quipped into the desk.
"No Reno, it's part of the reason we want to hire you. It gives us a bit of leverage over you when we know what you care about. Last time Shinra got ahold of you you didn't give a damn about anything but your mommy and since she was out of the picture we couldn't hold anything against you. Now however, you've got a friend." The man pushed him harder into the desk.
"What the hell are you gonna do!?" Reno screamed and struggled harder against the hands holding him.
"It's to bad he fights most of your battles for you," The man breathed in his ear, "otherwise you'd be able to throw me off. We'll fix that though, don't worry."
"What are you gonna do!?" Reno screamed again, and then went limp, allowing his weight to slide him off the desk, dragging the man down with him. The second his body hit the ground he gathered his legs under him and launched himself out from under the man. He stood up and began to run towards the door only to be tackled from behind again. Reno rolled over trying to keep his hands free as they struggled on the floor.
"Get off me!" Reno screamed as he was slammed onto his back with his wrists pinned above his head.
"Not a chance!" The man panted, Reno could tell just by looking that this was not the same man he had met years before. This man was younger, his suit was black like his hair and he looked like he might be in his thirties.
"What are you gonna do?" Reno asked as he continued to try and buck the man off him.
"Give you incentive." The door opened and a few more men walked in. "Have you got him?"
"Yeah, we got him. The bastard came pretty quietly." Reno strained to get a look at the men in the doorway.
"The incentive has arrived Reno." The man smiled as Reno's eyes locked onto Rude, standing cuffed between two Soldiers.
"Rude!" Reno strained to get his hands free.
"Sorry Reno. They said they were going to kill you." Rude hung his head.
"What do you want?" Reno stopped struggling and looked the man on top of him in the eye.
"We want to make the same offer we did last time, except this time when you answer remember whose head we have a gun to." As if on cue one of the Soldiers holding Rude cocked his gun.
Reno strained his head back to look at Rude again, catching his eyes. Rude's face was expressionless and Reno sighed as he brought his head back to normal. "Fine. Whatever the fuck it is you want you can have it alright? Just don't hurt him."
"Good answer." The man pulled a pair of cuffs out of his suit and snapped them onto Reno's wrists. "You won't regret it."
He hauled Reno to his feet and led him out of the room by his wrists, signaling for the Soldiers to do the same with Rude. Reno glared at every person he passed and most of them looked away guiltily. Reno went slowly on purpose, intent on pissing off the man leading him. He didn't give a damn who he was or who he worked for, he just knew he was pissed and the only way he could safely show it was to be as difficult to handle as possible.