Reno came to shaking on the floor in the kitchen. His head hurt, he could barely keep his eyes open, he was sweating, his nose burnt so badly he couldn't breathe. Sobriety was overrated, he decided.

He struggled to his feet and stumbled to the bathroom. His clammy hands opened the bag and poured out some, probably too much, it usually was, of the white powder that had become his lifeblood.

Everything had gone wrong. First the president seemed to forget what it was that was entailed in the Turks' job description, then the board got uppity and started playing mind games with all Shin-Ra employees, and then, oh fuck, then he'd gotten that mission. Tseng fucking forced him to drop the plate.

And Ema-

"Fuck!"

His nose burnt. His mind started to clear, become less muddled, less fuzzy and the room came into focus.

And there was blood, on him, on the counter, on the floor and then he realized he had tracked it in from the kitchen.

His pipe was broken on the counter and the pieces were covered in angry crimson.

What the hell? he wondered as he saw another trail of big, fat drops of scarlet on the carpet into Rude's room.

"Stay the fuck out of here, man," Reno heard his partner growl.

"What?"

"Stay. Out."

"No, man. There's blood on the floor!"

"I know," the fighter said.

"No, but-" Reno heard sniffles from the other side of Rude's bathroom door. "Is that Triss?"

Rude said nothing, but placed himself between Reno and the door.

"Triss? Triss, baby, what's wrong?" The sniffles turned into sobs. "Triss? Babe!" he cried and tried to open the door, only to be caught mid-lunge by Rude. "Triss? Why are you crying?" Reno asked frantically.

"You know damn well why!"

"No! Why are you crying?" the redhead shrieked, struggling to free himself from Rude's grasp.

"You don't remember?" The door flew open and collided with the wall with a loud smash. "You don't remember attacking me? You don't remember busting your pipe on the counter and cornering me in the kitchen with it? You don't remember throwing me into the wall and screaming at me?"

"What? I didn't-"

"Oh, yes you did! Let me remind you!" she shoved her bandaged hands in his face. "Remember now, asshole?" Blood had seeped through the layers of white wrapped around her palms. "I'm fucking lucky Rude got home when he did and knocked you out! I would be dead, Reno! You were going to kill me!"

"Baby, I would never -"

"Rude?"

"Yeah, Triss?"

"Get him the fuck out."

The big man nodded and, quite literally, threw Reno into the hallway.

"You stay the fuck away from her."