Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII is the property of Square Enix and no financial profit is sought from this work.

Warnings: language, violence, blood, death and yaoi

A/N; Ha! I knew I couldn't be the only oddball in the world who likes this pairing. So here you are: a new chapter! And great thanks to all of my lovely reviewers!

Chapter Two: Talk

Three days had passed since the SOLDIERs had met the red haired Turk, Reno, as he had said his name was, and during those short days Zack and the Turk had grown friends. They spent almost all of their free time hanging out together… in Sephiroth's condo in the ShinRa building.

The General obviously wasn't as thrilled about that outcome as the two, over talkative, young fighters were. During the time Sephiroth had been working together with Zack, the dark haired SOLDIER had created a habit of hanging around his commander and talking non-stop. Usually Zack would give up trying to make a conversation between them after Sephiroth ignored him long enough. But now, when the dark haired man had someone else to talk with, the babble went on and on.

Sephiroth, who had grown up alone, had grown accustomed to silence, and later welcomed it, and the silence almost always seemed to follow him everywhere he went… except if Zack was around. So, the endless noise irritated the silver haired man to no end. If he had assumed that Zack finding a new friend, would bring him some peace, he had peen painfully wrong. Those two spiky haired friends caused more noise than ten laughing Heideggers. The ride to the ShinRa building after the mission had been near torture to the silver haired man, and he hadn't even asked the Turk to join them. But he had taken the torture like a man, since the ride only lasted 25 minutes, but now the Turk's and Zack's babble continued for hours. And the thing that irritated the General the most was the fact that more and more often, he found himself listening to the conversations between the two.

Given that Sephiroth and Zack were both SOLDIERs and they worked on same missions, Zack had nothing to talk with his commander that Sephiroth wasn't already familiar with, the only times Sephiroth had actually been listening to Zack's stories were the times Zack had been talking about his hometown and the times before he joined SOLDIER. But now, there wasn't anything new the dark haired SOLDIER could talk about. But the Turk brought something new with him; he talked about things the General hadn't experienced. He talked about the things he did in his time off, about different places up the plate or in the slums he had been, sometimes he talked about his work (witch should actually have been classified). And try as he might, Sephiroth couldn't ignore the Turk's stories.

And he didn't like it.

"Don't you have your own places where to spend your time?" the General's voice gut through their conversation about last night's Chocobo race.

"Well… yeah, but your place is much cooler than ours," Zack said burying his hand in his neck and grinning widely.

Sephiroth's place definitely was cooler than any SOLDIER's, first of all, he was the only SOLDIER who had the honor to live in the ShinRa building and his condo was only one storey lower than the President's. The condo was on the Northern side of the building and the huge ceiling-to-floor windows revealed a fantastic view of the ocean in the far horizon. The living room with the adjoining kitchen was spacious and the white tiled bathroom could give any other a run for its money, even Sephiroth's office was attached to his condo. All of the General's furniture was no doubt very expensive and were kept in good order; the General had his own cleaner, who visited once a week, after all. Even though very flashy, the condo wasn't that big (considering the amount of gils in the man's pay check), at least to those few visiting it. The door to Sephiroth's bedroom was always closed and absolutely of-limits, so no one, except the General himself, knew how huge the mysterious room behind the door was.

"Besides, if we stayed in our places," Zack continued, motioning towards himself and Reno, "We couldn't keep you company."

"I hardly remember asking you to keep me company," Sephiroth said coldly from his position near the windows. "And more importantly, shouldn't he," Sephiroth's eyes slid from Zack to Reno, "be working?"

The red haired youth, who was lounging in Sephiroth's big leather couch looking like he owned it, turned around to get a better look of the silver haired General. "I am. We're workin' on shifts. Tseng 'n' Daren are out there right now along with the chicks, an' my 'n' Rude's shift starts tomorrow at eight AM. There's no point for all eight of us runnin' around and tirin' ourselves out in few days. Unlike ya SOLDIERs, we're just people."

Sephiroth turned his gaze from Reno to look at the dark ocean shimmering in the distance. "I just want you to find the rest of the resistance movement soon. I don't like it when things are left unfinished."

"No worries, General. We'll find 'em," Reno said, turning his back at Sephiroth.

"Say, Seph, we're planning to go out for a few drinks. Want to join us?" Zack asked as he rose from the other end of the couch.

Sephiroth had silently given Zack the permission to call him 'Seph' some time ago, so he ignored the nickname. But if his second-in-command dared to add the little 'y' in the end of it, making it sound that of a puppy, he would remind the man about certain things. "No," he said, not removing his eyes from the scenery before him.

"You sure? My treat," the dark haired man added.

Sephiroth turned around to look at Zack and spoke in a totally calm tone, even though what he said caused Zack to chuckle. "You're going out for a few drinks? I don't care whose treat it is, I'm not going. Don't you remember what happened last time?"

Zack's face was twisted into something that one could see in someone's face that was in serious pain or was trying very hard not to laugh. "What? The Great Sephiroth is afraid of few fangirls?"

"Not afraid, just tired of them." Sephiroth replied, again in a calm voice, his face devoid of any emotion.

"Okay, do as you please," Zack said still grinning at the memory. He motioned Reno to get up, and after the Turk had somehow pulled himself off the couch from a very inhuman looking half-lying, half-sitting position they walked to the door.

"You sure you don't want to come?" Zack asked one last time as he opened the door. All he received for an answer was the shake of long, silver hair.

"Okay, then. Bye, Seph!"

"Later, General!"

And so the two left Sephiroth alone in the quiet of his condo.

There were much variety between different bars in Midgar, but the biggest difference was whether the bar was on the plate or in the slums. The ones up the plate had many different designs and drinks, for people to choose their favourite from. But they all had one rule: no drinks to minors. The ones in slums were different on that subject, the bar owner could sell a drink to a 14 year old pregnant girl if she had any gils in her pocket.

But despite the strict rules, Zack and Reno were sitting in a cosy bar in the upper fourth sector. It was a miracle where the word "SOLDIER", especially if mentioned with a certain General's name, could get you into.

"So, what do you think? Will the rest of the rebel gang still try to wipe out the Pres?" Zack asked as he put down his beer.

"Yeah," Reno replied. "They won't give up easily, an' just like the General said, the incident just makes 'em plot an' do things more secretly an' effectively." He sighed and lifted his glass to his lips. "More work for us."

"Well, at least you're out of the gang now, so you won't be in the line. It must've been difficult working undercover in an organisation against the man who writes your pay check," Zack said leaning on the counter.

"Nah, not really. Quite many in the movement had a past similar to mine. I just needed to dig up my resentment towards ShinRa an' I blended in perfectly," Reno said somewhat sullenly, his eyes downcast.

"What do you mean?" Zack asked cautiously, not used to the Red head's tone.

Reno turned to look at his friend and frowned lightly. He didn't talk a lot about his past; in fact, aside from himself and his childhood friends there were about only a handful of people who knew what his life was like before becoming a Turk. He didn't know if it was the beer or the fact that the dark haired SOLDIER was just so damn nice and easily approachable, but he started talking:

"Ya know that the movement was founded by some Wutaiese immigrants pissed of by the war, so most of the members were, or are, Wutaiese. But during time more and more Midgar residents joined it… People like me whose life had been fucked up 'cause of ShinRa," he took a long gulp of his beer and continued: "I was born and raised in the slums of the sixth, typical slum life: poor jobs, little money, crappy house… But when I turned six my old man got a job from a Mako reactor, we were so excited; maybe we could've raised enough money to move on the plate. But then, one day there was an accident, somethin' about some parts blowin' up. My dad was one of the few victims killed in the accident, 'cause he'd to do the most dangerous jobs the slum people did. So at the age of seven I 'came the head of my family, doin' all kinds of dirty jobs to bring food to the table. My mom did the best she could, but ever since givin' birth to my little sister she had been kinda sick… and then she died, along with my sis, when bunch o' monsters attacked 'em while I was workin'…"

Reno's usually so bright eyes were haunted with years of pain, quilt and anger and the grip he had on his beer was almost enough to break the glass. "I swore to destroy the bastards of ShinRa-" he snorted, "but instead I 'came one of 'em…" He drowned down the last of his beer and motioned the bartender to give him another. "When I got offered the job of a Turk, I was ready to beat the livin' shit out of Tseng. But instead I agreed, thinkin' that ShinRa'd give me the life it once took away from me. So I forgot all 'bout my family… an' then I went undercover in the organisation. I really could sympathise with 'em and they 'came my friends… An' I had to betray 'em…"

The bartender gave Reno his beer and he took a gulp of it. "Some say it needs a certain kinda cruelness to become a Turk… Well, I certainly think that I have it," he said with an unamused laugh.

For a moment they sat in silence as Zack digested what he had just heard. Well that certainly was a lot more difficult life than his childhood in a boring, little country town had been.

"Well, it's not like you had any choice," Zack finally said, "With the undercover job I mean. Once you sign that paper ShinRa owns you, and there's no room for argue. Besides, I don't think you're cruel; you just did what you had to do to survive. And I'm sure your parents would appreciate it too, you did get out of the slums after all, and I think they'd be happy about it," he said softly, placing a hand on Reno's shoulder.

"Yeah… Guess you're right," the red head said and the suffering look was suddenly gone and his usual cheerfulness was back when he asked: "So, what happened 'last time'?"

Reno laughed at Zack's surprised and lost look and added: "Sephiroth an' the fangirls?"

The same twisted grin from earlier that day spread on the dark haired SOLDIER's face. "Oh nothing special, he just had hell of a difficult time trying to chase them away."

Reno immediately got a funny picture in his head of Sephiroth surrounded by tons of women, trying to break free from their grasp. He hid his evil grin behind his glass as took a gulp.

"Don't understand why he has so many fans though. Yeah, he's a great fighter an' all that but the man's just so damn cold 'n' scary," the Turk muttered when he put down his glass. Reno had heard many executives and other ShinRa people who had met the General saying that they had been disappointed in the man's attitude, so he hadn't been expecting hugs and kisses from the man but still…

"But you seem pretty immune to his coldness considering the way you act around him," Zack said as he picked up his once forgotten beer.

"I'm a Turk, I'm trained to deal with difficult things an' not show my fear," Reno replied grinning.

"So you are afraid of him," Zack said and before Reno could argue with that accusation the SOLDIER continued: "And you haven't even seen the ultimate 'Sephiroth-death-glare'. I swear he killed at least half of the Wutaiese in the war with that look."

"Have ya seen it?"

"He gave it to me once," Zack said and seemed to shudder, "And I tell you: that thing's damn lethal! He only uses it when he's really pissed though."

"What did ya do to earn it?" Reno asked lifting his elbows on the counter and resting his chin in his hands.

"I tried to make him loosen up and tell me something about himself, so I made a joke about him," Zack said, rubbing the back of his neck, seemingly uncomfortable with the memory.

Reno stared his friend for a while until he snorted. "Getting' all worked out over a simple joke… Makes me wonder how long the stick in his ass is."

Zack let out a small, almost sad laugh. "Seph's really not a bad person; he's just really private… Hell, I don't even know how old the guy is. I've learned more about you in these three days than about him in a year and-" the dark haired man stopped while counting in his head "-nine months."

"Twenty-one months?" Reno asked, completing a little count of his own "You were in the war?"

"Only the last month, but that was more than enough. Luckily I didn't make it to First Class any sooner," Zack answered and continued after drinking the last of his beer: "That's where I met Sephiroth for the first time. I fought quite close to him in the war, and when we returned to Midgar I was being made his second-in-command… One could say I'm the best SOLDIER there is after him," he said, pointing his thumb at his chest and grinning widely without a trace of cockiness.

"I feel kinda sorry for you, ya know?" Reno said, pointing at the SOLDIER with his almost empty beer glass "First the hell of the war, then the hell of The Great Sephiroth."

Zack smirked at his friend as Reno drank the last of his beer and for a few seconds Zack wondered just how quick a drinker the red head was, given that it wasn't long ago the Turk had ordered that 'new' glass that was now sitting empty on the counter.

"Like I said, Seph's not a bad person. From what I've gathered, he just doesn't know how to interact with people. He knows how to be polite when needed and stuff like that, but in his private life, or in the lack of it, I'd be temped to say that he's emotionally dead… or not." Zack grumbled and pulled a hand though his spiky hair, "Hell, that man's a total mystery; I've been trying to break him out of his shell for a long, long time but…"

"So that's why we're always hanging out in his place 'keeping him company'?" Reno said in sudden realization.

Zack looked at his friend feeling a little surprised. "Is it that obvious?"

Reno straightened his back, trying to make himself look bigger. "To me it is now, but to him…probably not. I mean, how that iceman could notice if someone tried to be nice to him since he doesn't know how to be nice."

Zack sighed in relief after feeling convinced enough that his commander didn't see through his plan. Seeing his friend's relieved expression, Reno's face twisted into a cruel smirk as he got an idea. He leaned close to the SOLDIER, wrapping a hand over his shoulders.

"Ya know, I'm startin' to think there's somethin' more than his friendship you want from the General," the red head whispered with a grin.

"Huh?" Zack was completely confused for a while until he got it "WHAT?"

Reno burst out into a very loud laugh and everyone in the bar turned to look at them. Zack felt his cheeks warming and assumed their colour was very close to his laughing friend's hair. The SOLDIER felt a very strong urge to whack his friend upside the head, and that he did.

"Idiot! I have a girlfriend."

"Yeah, I know," Reno managed to say between sharp intakes of breath as he tried to subdue his laughter. "Ya should've seen yer face," And then he was laughing again.

Zack turned away from his friend and glared his empty glass for a while, waiting for Reno to calm down. Then the idea struck him. 'Maybe if Seph really had someone he cared about, maybe he would stop being so indifferent and cold towards things…But like he could ever fall in love…'

A/N: About the Turks; in Last Order OAV, there are nine Turks and for this fic I decided to go with that number, but there's next to no information given about them in the anime, not even names, so I searched the net for information about Before Crisis, but turns out that the new characters don't have official names, so I took the privilege to name one of them (Can you guess witch one of them I named 'Daren'?) During my research, I found out that the storyline of BC takes place about the same time with this story, and the resistance movement the characters are after in this fic is not AVALANCHE. So if you are one of the lucky ones who get to play BC… then consider this AU… Oh, and I said that there'll be nine Turks in the fic, but Reno said: "There's no point for all eight of us runnin' around and tirin' ourselves out in few days." that's because in LO, Reno called one of the other Turks a 'newcomer' when they were ordered to capture Zack and Cloud after they escaped from Nibelheim, and this story takes place before the events of Nibelheim, so there are eight Turks now... And after all this research and finishing the chapter I realized that I had written the first chap as if there were only three Turks… /sigh/ Oh, well… I don't care…

I also have no idea when the Wutai war took place…

I'm a terrible author…

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them.