Hey peoples! Thanks for coming back!
Nickelman - actually, Reno didn't have sex with Arien right after. If you read the other two stories, you'd get the time flow much better. Reno did a REALLY quick recap there... because the past two stories are fifty-some chapters long.I kind of guessed that Reno HAS to dye his hair, because his eyebrows aren't red. I still haven't figured out the red marks on his cheeks, though. Does anyone know what happened?
RaspberryPolarBear - aww, I'm so sorry. I hope my fic helped easing your pain... I really do. I'm so so glad you're still sticking with this series. Ivy will be playing a role in this fic - again. She has two kids, by the way (haven't thought of their names yet...). Arien is a cool character with adventures, but I'd rather be Ivy. She has a happier life, you know? Reno did get promoted to First-in-Command. Not that it means anything with our redhead.
NarcissisticRiceball - I BET Reno didn't finish high school. Legend is actually a character from this flash movie called "XIN", and he's the school captain who kinda reminds me of Rufus - quiet, controlled, and CLAD IN WHITE. Except that Legend has raven hair. So I added whole bunch of slangs and off-tangent-comments. Glad you liked.
Echo - I did get your character, thank you very much! She will make an appearance sooner or later. I've received about three, and they will all make appearances - I can't promise major parts, but they will receive roles. I might kill them off in the story, though, so if you don't want your character dead, please tell me before I murder the poor girl.
Ninja Girl Candy-Chan - So far I have three, and because I don't have the plot hammered down yet, I don't know. But I will call for more characters if I need them. Since the AC people will be making appearances (NOT Sephiroth, though... he can't be resurrected ALL the time), we'll have a nice party.
Insanity - lol. Your name is Insanity, you're entitled to go crazy. I'm glad you came back. This one will have a little more conflict between Rufus and Reno, which will be interesting, as well as Tseng and Reno. Reno got promoted! And we will also get to see the new Shinra Company getting off its feet and start running.
Again, thanks for coming back! And enjoy your stay. (Btw - Vincent Valentine will be called either "Vincent" or "Valentine" in this story... Reno Junior will be called "Vince" most of the time or "Reno Junior", unless it is obvious that the little kid is the one being talked about.)
"Vincent!"
Dark hair streamed behind, pale face contorted. A shock of raven flew behind the ear as he ran, fleeing, to be more precise. Large eyes were focused straight ahead, toward the safe haven, but the hunter was as skillful as he was, perhaps even more. He ran, ran amidst the wooden maze, trying to flee for his life.
"Come back here this instant!"
The said person was, contrary to most expectations, not our gunslinging ex-Turk. It was a small boy with a wild disarray of dark brown hair, shockingly blue eyes, and a mischievous thin mouth, dodging through wooden furniture. He crashed into a chair, knocked it over, narrowly swerved to the left to avoid a large table, and kept on running. His short legs had not yet started to thin, and his fingers were still chubby and stocky, unlike his father's. Laughing wildly, he fled his mother's extending hands.
The mother was young, barely in her mid-twenties. Unlike her son, her hair was long, bound in a ponytail. Her eyes were darker than her sons as well, and she definitely looked more Wutaian than her child. She chased after him, both sets of legs pumping, and her hands were just about to grasp the boy when he slid away like an eel, laughing even more wildly, looking back and chortling.
Arien DeVir stopped, sighed, hooked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, then stood straight up. Her son – and Reno's, actually – was proving to be a bigger problem than a bahamut. It appeared that Reno's talents were hereditary; either that or the father was instructing the son very well, for Arien could only catch the small boy dipping his fingers in a honey jar, or grabbing cookies out of the can, or bringing mud into the house. When she looked again to start scolding, he was gone. She was losing her confidence that she could raise Vincent Miller as a responsible adult.
Vincent Renaldo Miller was three years old, with a mischievous mouth, a small nose and large, luminous azure eyes that was the mixed shade of his father and his mother. Although he was short and stocky, he could be expected to become slender, with long, deft fingers from his father and long legs from his mother. His chin was narrow, and his hair could not be tamed, even with Arien attacking at it with a comb and a brush. He could have been expected to grow into a handsome adult, but at the moment, mouth filthy with sweets and his pockets filled to the brim with candy, he looked hardly presentable.
His name was from Vincent Valentine, who reluctantly became his godfather after Arien – who was like a younger sister to him, in a way – had begged him. In all the truth, Vincent Valentine was unwilling to bear such responsibility, but Arien had bugged, prodded, persuaded, and begged him until he gave in. It wasn't a habit of him to say no to a woman anyway. Reno raised his eyebrow at this, but said nothing.
"Reno," Arien said crossly as she came across the young man sitting on a chair, legs crossed and watching the scene, "you can at least try to help, you know."
"I'd pass, yo."
"Reno, it's a dual responsibility. Vince's not only my child."
"Yeah yeah, okay okay!" Reno grinned at her. "Vince! Vincent!"
The small boy peered out from the corner of the wall, his small face now serious. Reno turned his head, then ordered:
"Come here."
Vincent Miller knew that he could cross mommy and there'd still be redemption, but crossing daddy was a tricky business and a risky one as well. He knew better than to disobey, so he obediently walked toward the redhead.
He grabbed the small child. "There," he said, turning his head to the woman. "Caught the kid."
"Vincent," Arien said sternly, "how many times do I have to tell you not to go through my kitchen? Do you want to get spanked again?"
"No, Mommy," the boy replied, lips quivering. Mommy's spanks hurt a lot.
"Do you think Uncle Vincent would have done that? Or Uncle Rufus?"
Vincent Miller had met Vincent Valentine only once, but had decided that Vincent Valentine was the coolest person upon earth, and his wish was to become like him. Called Uncle Vincent, the ex-Turk was a hero and a god for the small child. The ex-Turk didn't know this, of course. With the Deep Ground SOLDIER chaos in his recent history, he was still trying to settle with the fact that Chaos and other demons weren't really that influential anymore. Uncle Rufus, however, was completely another business. The quiet, young blond with startlingly beautiful blue eyes and elegance in his face was more like the small child's own conscience. If Vincent Valentine was the god to be emulated, Rufus Shinra was the god who judged. Either way, the two men were influential to the small boy.
"No, Mommy," the small Vincent said grudgingly. He did not really want to admit that he did something that Uncle Vincent would not do. Or do something that Uncle Rufus would stare at him coldly and say, "That really was not appropriate".
"Next time you do it, it'll be forty spanks, not twenty. If you want something sweet, then tell me, okay?"
"Yes Mommy." He stopped, then said, "I'm sorry."
Watching their son waddle back to his small bedroom, Arien sat on the arm of the chair gingerly.
"Do ya really think he'd listen, yo?" Reno asked dubiously. Arien shrugged.
"I suppose so. 'Uncle Vincent' is having a lot of influence on him, and besides, he's a clever kid, unlike either of us. He knows better than to get it illegally when he can get it legally. Unlike you, who seems to think that anything illegal is fun." She kissed him on the forehead.
"I don't think everything illegal is fun," Reno protested. He was about to kiss her back when the cell phone broke their soft interlude.
"Reno! Come here this instant," Tseng's voice barked through the phone. The redhead frowned and made a face, and then put in a special effort to place his phone as far away from his head as possible.
"Fucker!" Reno muttered as he slammed the phone shut. "Today is my off day, yo!"
Since the entire Kadaj fiasco had ended, it had been three years. During those three years, Rufus had accomplished several things; one, he managed to find a fiancée, much to the comfort of his subordinates. Her name was Clarissa, and she happened to be of a fine specimen, according to Tseng, with auburn wavy hair and spring green eyes, with flawless creamy complexion. Two, he had managed to rebuild the Shinra Company, not to the old glory, but to something very close. With the old science team – or most of it – back at his call, he put pressure into oil refinery and oil field research, which proved to be a sufficient energy suppliant. This meant that the Turks were back into their positions.
Or not so. Tseng had been promoted after the years of his service into the head of the General Research Department. This meant that Reno was now officially in command of the Turks, although not much had changed. Tseng was still the boss, Reno still the slacking subordinate. But now each Turk commanded a squadron of Turks-in-Training – the job was on high demand among the military academy grads who sought a dangerous but high-paying employment – with their tasks divided. Rude was in charge of combat details, what weapons to use, e.t.c, while Elena was the electrical and explosive technician in charge. Arien was taking care of the tactical maneuvers of each assignment. Because Reno was incapable, the other Turks had divided Tseng's job among themselves. Reno was in charge of the entire plan each time, deciding how to approach the problem. By his uncanny knack and sheer luck, Reno had managed to survive through the toughest ordeals. Although they did not want to, the official Turks grudgingly trusted the redhead not to get them killed.
When Reno returned to the small house they had lived in that night, Arien was silently knitting on the couch. The two needles clicked as she knitted the white sweater. The redhead knew that Vincent was already asleep, but still made a point to ask, "Vince?"
"Asleep," came back the reply. "It's eleven thirty, Reno. He wouldn't be up. You've been away for long. What kept you?"
"Tseng. Who else?" Reno sat down, making a face. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Knitting your sweater." Arien sighed. "You're awfully too tall. Can you shrink so I don't have to knit so much?"
"I can try my best, but I ain't promisin' anythin'," Reno slurred as he stretched his legs. "Dinner?"
She jerked a knitting needle at the coffee table, where the dinner was laid out.
"Thanks." Sitting on the carpeted floor, he peeled off the saran wrap from the plates and picked up the knife and fork. "We have a new assignment."
Arien sighed, rolled up the knitting, and sat on the floor perpendicular to her partner. "Who's threatening Rufus now?"
"Some old bloke."
The Turks had long ceased to be a recruitment squad. Instead, their express jobs were to kill. Arien did not enjoy it, and she disliked telling Vincent what they did for a living. But as Reno had put it, "That kid deserves the truth that we're rotten pieces of shit in society. We'll teach him it's bad to kill people. He can damn us later." The young woman regretted her career often these days. How long would it take before her son looked at her with scorn, perhaps even disgust?
Not very long, she assumed glumly.
"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Reno asked between a mouthful.
"About Vince." She sighed. "I never really thought about the morals about my job. And now…"
"It's haunting ya, right?"
Arien nodded helplessly.
"Well, we both had lots to go through," Reno said thoughtfully, making his point with his fork. "It's not like we were on a rosy chariot from plate one. Unlike the AVALANCHE dudes. Cloud was a happy kid compared to us, it looks like. So was Tifa and Yuffie and everyone else. We weren't."
"Which side will Vince be on?"
"Whichever side he chooses to be," Reno replied. "But we did our best to live. Hell, if I had a loving mom and a nice dad and a perfect family, I might have ended up raising chocobos like Luca. Instead, I'm here with you. And you… well, you didn't have a smooth ride either."
Her face was expressionless, but her blue-green eyes spoke volumes. No, she did not have a happy childhood. Justice was not meted out. Sibling rivalry getting out of hand, her father almost never at home, the war with Wutai… often, in her bed at Midgar Military Academy, she had raged against her fate, to be part of one group that was fighting another, and to be the member of the other group as well. Her first mentor, boyfriend, partner, suddenly gone in a bout of flames.
"We have seven more years," Arien said, almost to herself.
"Till we send him to JuMi?"
JuMi was the shortened form of Junon Military Academy, a brother academy to where Arien ad attended. It was not the top school as the Midgar one used to be, but it still gave discipline and a better education than the local schools. Arien knew that Reno had education complex; sure, Reno's paycheck was two more digits more than hers, but she still had a military diploma, which could be used in wide varieties. The Turk had agreed to send the child to the military academy when he turned ten years old.
Arien sighed. "I'm two-minded, which is not a good thing," she said solemnly. "I want to keep him… but that'll be selfish of me."
"You can be selfish… sometimes," Reno said pensively, while eating. "But not always. Like Rufus." Then he jerked his fork away from the mouth, and said, "Mm, that reminds me. We have a new incoming batch. Class of C-12."
"Another?"
"Yeah. There's about fifteen, so we get four each. Most of them won't last a year anyway."
That was an acknowledged fact among the Turks, and a well-kept secret. Those who had completed the training barely lasted a year; the first batch successfully died at an explosion at the rescue site, and they had to start anew. Arien groaned.
"And who's watching Vince? We both have to go, you know."
"We'll have Ivy watch him." Reno shrugged. "It's not like she's not the second mom..."
It all started with a small quarrel. It always did.
The beginning was fuddled; nobody really knew who started it. Elena maintained that it was Reno, Reno upheld that it was Elena. Neither Rude nor Arien cared; all they wished for was this stupid war to end.
It all began when Elena failed a mission. Rude knew too well how it was beyond Elena's physical capability to hunt down a group of crazed scientists and steal a box of F-13 explosives. So did Arien.
Reno, who managed the impossible without a thought, didn't.
So when Elena came back, clothes torn and looking too depressed to be angry, Reno exploded. In her face.
"I fuckin' told you that this was a top priority mission, you bitch!" Reno screamed unprofessionally. Arien winced, and wondered why Reno could not scream at the poor woman in private. Elena was more than a capable Turk now, and she did not need this public humiliation.
"Well then, maybe you could have sent ten, not one!" Elena screamed back. "It was guarded with XV-28 cyclobots! A dozen of them! And you expect me to evade all thirteen, get the damn box, and come back here intact?" She glared. "I'd like to see you try."
"I've done worse."
"So you say."
By then Reno was livid with fury, and Elena was red in anger.
"You said you could do it, you fucking ass!"
"No, you told me I could! Obviously you were wrong!"
"For Shiva's sake, Elena! Why can't you be more like your sister?"
The room turned silent.
Elena had a sister, named Delara, who had also graduated from the Shinra Military Academy with top marks. A blonde tall woman, she was also a capable Turk with an adaptable sense of justice. Elena had loved her, admired her, and emulated her whenever she could. Unfortunately, Delara was murdered in her own apartment, in what was now called as "Turks Massacre".
Reno had a crush on Delara – a decisive woman with quick humor and a bright disposition, the redhead had taken a liking to her immediately. Arien knew that, had sometimes resented it, feeling that Reno was constantly comparing her to Elena's sister.
Elena did not know that Reno had a crush on her sister. But Elena missed her sister immensely, and an angry lava boiled in her mind, silently, seething. Thus, Delara was a touchy subject and generally avoided at all costs.
And Reno had just broken one of the cardinal rules: never speak the world Delara in front of Elena.
Elena turned on her heels and left. Arien looked at the watch and said, "Re, you better talk to her. We're starting the orientation in few minutes, and we can't have you two fighting."
Reno sighed. "Fine," he said. "Who the hell made me the boss? And for Leviathan's sake, why?"
"Hey, Elena?"
"Go away."
"Elena."
"Just fucking go away!"
Reno resolutely pulled out a pin from his pocket, jammed it into the lock, and picked it expertly. The lock unlocked with a click. Reno opened the door.
Elena was crumpled on the desk; from the looks of her face, she was crying. Reno stood, unsure of what to do. Arien rarely showed emotions. She did not even scream when she was giving birth. A splurge of emotion was alien to him.
"Elena?" He said slowly. "I'm… sorry." The word tumbled out from his mouth awkwardly, as if it were an angular block.
"Are you?" Elena shot a murderous glare at him. "Or are you saying that for something else?"
"I am," Reno replied sincerely. "I shouldn't have said that." He kept it short. "I really mean it, yo."
"Oh, really." Elena was suddenly Miss. Skeptic.
"Well, if you don't wanna believe it, I can't do anything." He shrugged. "But orientation's starting in five minutes. Get changed, and for Tseng's sake wash your face. You look like hell."
With that, he left.
Elena threw a cordless mouse at the offending door. Reno had probably meant the apology; but then he had to go and ruin it by going back to business. She hated Reno. She hated everyone. She hated the new recruits.
Resolutely, she opened her closet to change.
"You are, of course, allowed to remove your name from the roster at any time prior to entering the door to my left. Once you enter that door, you are bound by a life-long contract to serve the Shinra Company and remain in the ranks of the Administrative Sector of the General Research Department, unless there is any reason for you to be removed to another sector. The decision will be made by us."
Elena listened boredly. She was late, but nobody said anything. When she had entered, Arien was already reciting – rote lecture – the agreements set by the Shinra Company.
"Life-long?" One of the recruits asked, a boy with long brown mane. "How long?"
"Until you die," Arien replied simply. "The only exception is when you have a permanent brain damage severe enough to render you incomprehensible or insane. Once you're one of us, you're always one of us." She paused, looked around for questions, then continued. "The Shinra Company will not be held accountable for any deaths, injuries, or lost possessions during the hours and on missions. Any personal items found on the casualty will be returned to the family. We are bound by legal contracts not to disclose any information pertaining to the assignments with anyone but one of the members. Violation of this rule can be treated as treason and will be judged accordingly." She drew a breath. "By entering the door to my left, you agree to abide by and accept all the rules and the consequences of joining the Administrative Sector of the General Research Department. Any who do not may leave now." She frowned, then said, "I mean it. If you don't want to have a chance of dying in the near future, then leave now. If you try to leave the ranks after joining us, we will execute you on the spot. Since the First-in-Command would like to talk to all of you for a few minutes before you get assigned, I suggest you make your mind up very quickly. It is a life-changing decision."
Reno stepped forward. "Alright, freshers," he said cheerfully. "I'm the First-in-Command. I'm not gonna tell you our names because if you suddenly decide not to join and tattle us to some fucker, we'll have to kill you. Oh, we don't mind killing you," Reno grinned nonchalantly, "but the custodians here hate cleaning up guts, and we sure as hell ain't doin' that. Let me just cut the crap and tell you this. There are fifteen of you here, right now. Only two will manage to live through the first year as a Turk."
A gasp echoed throughout the room. "And the rest?" said a quivering voice of a girl.
Reno pointed to the ground. "Six feet under."
A series of gasps echoed throughout the room again.
"So what she said, she ain't fuckin' around. If you think you'll be the one who's gonna be six feet under, then leave now. If you leave after you go through this door, one of us will shoot you in the head." Reno looked around, grinned, then waved them over as he swiped his ID through the slot and unlocked the door. "Welcome to the Turks."