Tseng sighed, sitting in a chair that he had rolled over to Elena's desk. "Someone has to stay with the president… I went to pick him up this morning and he had managed to crawl all the way to his living room. I walked in and he was swearing like a sailor. Dark Nation nearly killed me when I tried to help him…"
Elena frowned, folding her hands in her lap. She looked in the general direction of Rufus's office, feeling immense sympathy for him. "He needs someone to spend nights with him… Why did he crawl downstairs?"
He shook his head. "He just had to use the bathroom. I only installed those handrails for him in the bathroom on the first floor, so he can't use the second floor bathroom without help. Rude and I are leaving work a bit early today to install some more, and maybe a chair lift so he can go up and down the stairs."
Elena sighed, shaking her head. "I feel so bad for him… But, even if you install all of that, someone should be living with him. Should we look into an at-home nurse?"
He also frowned. "He wouldn't like that… Neither would the nurse, I feel. One of us should do it."
She looked up. "Not you…" She had just moved in with Tseng, her boyfriend, and didn't want to have him leave.
"No, not me. I'm afraid I'm not welcomed enough by Dark Nation for that…" He looked at her. "You, on the other hand…"
She held up her hands. "I'm sorry, but I can't. You know how upset that got me. I cried all night after I got back!"
He sighed. "I know… I'll talk to Rude and Reno about it."
"Why not talk to Rufus about it? Let him choose."
Tseng stood up. "Good idea, I'll do that. I'll be back in a bit."
She nodded as he walked away.
Tseng let himself into the office, not sure if he should knock. Rufus had been sleeping in his office a lot lately due to the lack of sleep at home, but he absolutely refused to stay away from work. But, today, he wasn't sleeping. He was looking at something on his laptop, closing it when Tseng walked in. He didn't want him to see that he was looking for a new wheelchair.
"I'm sorry for not knocking," Tseng said softly, bowing before settling into the chair on the other side of Rufus's desk.
He leaned back into his chair, wincing a bit. He began searching his drawers for pain pills, not looking at Tseng. "It's fine. What did you need?"
"After what happened last night and this morning, I have to assign someone to live with you. At least for a little while, until you get used to taking care of yourself. Rude and myself will be installing more railings on the second floor for you so you won't have to go downstairs for a bathroom."
Rufus had been scowling since Tseng brought up the morning, finding a bottle of weak pain pills. He unscrewed the lid and pulled a small red pill out, swallowing it with his coffee before he spoke. "I can handle myself. I won't be so careless again."
"Sir, I know you don't think you need it, but you do. Like I said, it won't be forever."
He sighed. "Very well… Who is it then?"
Tseng fidgeted in his chair, sitting up a bit straighter. "Actually, Sir, I thought you could choose. It should be one of us Turks, as we dedicate-"
"Reno."
Tseng blinked, choking off of what he was going to say. "S-sir?"
He looked down, putting the pills back and taking more time than necessary to do so, just to avoid Tseng's eyes. "I would like Reno to do it."
Tseng was still surprised. Why would Rufus pick Reno over him? "Sir, Reno's late to work every day… He should have been fired a long time ago. Why would you trust him for that?"
Rufus looked up, glaring at Tseng's question. "You know very well why. He saved my life."
Tseng fell silent, ashamed at himself. He had made his priority getting Elena out of that explosion. He didn't even think about getting the president out.
"I wish to go home when you and Rude leave. Tell Reno to come over when his shift is over and he straightens out what he needs to." He knew that Reno lived with his mother, and he hoped that the woman didn't rely on him too much. Honestly, he really wanted Reno to be the one to stay with him. He got too much sympathy from Elena, Tseng was too uptight, and Rude was too… quiet. Reno could be entertaining, for a lack of a better word. He hadn't forgotten what Reno had found yesterday, but he was certain that he could straighten out that situation with relative ease.
Tseng stood, bowing again. "Yes, Sir." He glanced at the clock. "We'll be leaving at our lunch break, in a couple hours." He turned back to Rufus. "Would you like me to send Reno in?"
"No. Just have him stop by later." He really didn't want to face Reno here. He would rather do it at home in privacy. Both that and the fact that he had no idea what to say to him.
He bowed one more time. "Yes, Sir. I'll come back in a bit." He turned and walked out of the office, surprised that Elena was waiting just outside.
"Who did he pick?" she asked, her voice anxious. "Did he pick you?" She had to admit, the odds were in Tseng's favor. Why not have the Director take care of the President? It made sense.
He shook his head. "No. He chose Reno." He walked away, looking for Reno.
"Reno?" Elena nearly shouted, trotting after him. "Why did he pick Reno?"
Tseng sighed. "You know just as well as I do that Reno was the one that saved him from the explosion. I was just surprised enough that he remembered, let alone that he picked him for this…"
Reno looked up, busy trying to jam a wrinkly dollar bill into a coffee vending machine. "Who did what?"
Tseng stopped and turned to him, Elena by his side. "You'll be living with the president for a while."
Reno blinked, ignoring the dollar bill that was spat back out at him. "Wait, what?"
Tseng sighed, used to Reno not understanding. Sometimes, he felt like he was talking to a damn kid. "The president can't take care of himself when we aren't there. Until Rude and I finish making his home handicap-accessible, he's going to need someone living with him to make sure he doesn't hurt himself. He says he wants you to do it."
He pulled his dollar out, stuffing it back in his pocket. "Uh… Can I refuse?" He didn't want to go for two reasons. For one, he didn't want to leave his mother for who knows how long. The other reason was more obvious. He had masturbated to that same man last night!
Tseng shook his head. "No, Reno. Rufus requested you."
He scowled, leaning against the vending machine. "Damn…"
"You'll be getting a raise, if that helps."
Reno's face lit up. Tseng had his attention now. The hook was in to draw Reno to his new job, and they both knew it. "Raise? By how much?"
Tseng thought for a moment. He couldn't give Reno that high of a raise because he was only the director, not the president. "Instead of the eleven gil per hour you're getting, I can raise it to thirteen. The president can raise it more than that, if he wants."
Reno's jaw nearly hit the floor. "I'll do it!"
He smiled. "Good. After your shift is up, go over to Rufus's house. Obviously, take a bit to pack your things and get yourself settled. You live with your mother, correct?"
He nodded. "Yeah, but she'll be fine. She takes care of herself when I go on long missions." His mother was a tough woman. She took care of him rather than vice-versa. That fact triggered a little voice in the back of Reno's head, telling him that if he couldn't even take care of himself, how could he take care of a paralyzed man?
Tseng nodded. "Good. You'll be working with Elena when you come back from lunch. Rude and I are going to the president's office to install more handrails for him and see what else we can get."
Elena spoke up. "Should we do anything?"
Tseng thought for a moment. "The president is coming with myself and Rude, so you'll be here on your own. Why don't you clean out his office for him?"
Elena smiled and nodded, ignoring Reno's wince.
Without saying goodbye, Tseng walked away. Elena stayed behind, frowning a bit at her coworker. Something seemed off today, but she wasn't sure what. Reno never drank coffee, so why had he been trying to get one? And why did he look so paranoid? He kept glancing over to Rufus's office, and Elena couldn't figure out why.
"What's wrong?"
Reno looked at her, shrugging a bit as he started acting more casual than he had been. "Nothin', Laney."
She crossed her arms over her chest, not pleased. "Something's obviously bothering you. You keep looking at the president's office like he's about to come out with a gun pointed at your head."
He forced a laugh. "Right," he said, rolling his eyes and striding away, leaving Elena suspiciously glaring after him.
Rufus sat back, watching as Rude and Tseng installed handrails in his upstairs bathroom so he could use the toilet on his own. Dark Nation had her front paws in her master's lap with her head resting on them as Rufus idly stroked her dark fur, her eyes closed and a soft purr coming from her throat instead of a growl. She had learned to trust Tseng enough by now. After all, he was with Rude. And Dark Nation had quite the soft spot for the bald Turk.
Rufus was only half paying attention to the remodeling that was being done to his bathroom. He hadn't really even been paying attention when Rude carried him up here to watch, wheelchair and all. He had been thinking of the decision he had made hours ago at work. Why had he picked Reno?
The answer to that was obvious enough. He trusted Reno more than any of the other Turks, although that trust hadn't completely formed until after the incident. He was notorious for being late for work and, as Tseng had told him earlier, it was a wonder that he hadn't been fired on several occasions. He wasn't very professional around the office, but when he was on the field, he was all business. Maybe a bit too much. He was extremely passionate about his work, and Rufus knew that. It made him the perfect applicant to be Rufus's live-in caretaker.
But, as for his snooping…
He really hoped that Reno had just forgotten about finding that. Usually, that drawer was locked. But, after a drunken night of staring at that photo and relieving some of his aching body's needs, he had forgotten to lock it up again. He had taken the photo from his office when the explosion first rocked, knowing he could only save a few things. He had grabbed that picture of Reno and his wallet, and that was all he managed before the ceiling collapsed on him with that metal post that rendered him paralyzed.
Remembering that day was like watching a video in his head that was stuck on repeat. He didn't know how long he had been trapped under that rubble, but he swore he must have been dead when he heard Reno fighting his way over to him… He had been unconscious for most of his rescue, but he couldn't help but wonder.
"Boss! Boss, you in here?" Reno shouted over the noise of flames, kicking and climbing his way through the collapsed office. "Boss!" He coughed a bit from the smoke that was rising up from a lower floor, finally seeing one of Rufus's legs sticking out from under the rubble. He ran forward at the sight, not giving a damn that the floor was about to fall out from under him.
He braced his shoulder over a beam that was under the drywall that buried Rufus Shinra, screaming a bit in pain as he shoved it off. He ran to his boss's side, grabbing his arm to drape around his shoulder and he stood up. Rufus crumbled beside him, crying out in pain.
"Boss," he breathed, suddenly seeming to notice the bloody beam that was embedded in Rufus's lower back. "Shit…" He wrapped one arm around Rufus's waist and pulled him up, noticing that his head and shoulder were both bleeding.
Rufus groaned, only half conscious. "My… back…"
"I know, I know," he mumbled. "Hold on…" Keeping one arm around Rufus's waist. He lowered his boss to sit on the floor. He gripped the pole and bit his lip, not liking the pained groan he got from the contact.
"Just pull the damn thing out," he muttered, gritting his teeth and grabbing hold of another fallen beam in front of him.
Reno said nothing, gripping the beam with his tired hands and pulling, trying to be as fast as possible. The bloody beam hit the ground as Rufus screamed, falling forward to his hands as he sobbed.
"C'mon, Boss…" He pulled off his black jacket and used it as a crude bandage for Rufus's back to try to staunch the bleeding. He picked him up bridal style, the sobbing man rapidly losing consciousness. "Stay with me," he demanded, running out of the room and heading for the stairway.
The stairwell was eerie as Reno began running down it, having saved Rufus on the sixty-eighth floor. The stairs were clear from any sort of destruction or smoke, but they could still hear the noises from the rest of the building. The fire alarms were shrieking and echoing in the cement stairwell, nearly drowning out the sound of the world collapsing around them.
Reno had no idea where he was getting his energy from. He passed the sign for the fiftieth floor, feeling like he was about to die. He could barely breathe anymore and his legs had nearly completely lost feeling. He didn't stop though. He couldn't. He wasn't going to die here, and neither was Rufus.
He suddenly skipped to a halt at floor thirty-two, seeing that the rest of the way had just caught fire after debris had fallen in. Swearing loudly, he kicked open a door and ran into the hall, hurrying due to the smoke. He ran to a window and kicked out the glass, noticing that Rufus was now unconscious. He swore again and looked down, ignoring the fire raging in the room. He gently placed his boss on the ground and grabbed up a burning piece of wood, throwing it down at the bald little speck that he identified as Rude. He missed horribly, hitting an ambulance, but at least someone looked up.
He began waving his hands like mad, waiting for someone to spot them. They finally did and began to set up a place for them to jump, but Reno had a feeling that jumping from the thirty-second floor could only end badly. He turned back to the burning room, the heat and smoke increasing rapidly by the minute. Rufus was still lying on the floor, unconscious and bleeding horribly. His right eye was shut and covered in blood, the blood dying some of his blonde hair pink. His suit was covered in blood stains, especially on his back. Reno's makeshift bandage was failing, a small pool of blood forming.
"Shit," he muttered again. He looked outside to see that they made some sort of cushion to catch them. He turned to Rufus, knowing that he had to go first. He picked him up bridal style and went over to the window at the same moment Rude grabbed a megaphone and started yelling. Reno could barely hear him over the sound of the collapsing building.
"It's a long fall! Just drop Rufus and pray!"
Reno laughed bitterly and looked at the bloody man he was holding. "Here's to you, Boss," he said softly, nuzzling his cheek affectionately before he took a deep breath and dropped him.
The second he let go, he regretted it. There was no way in hell that Rufus would survive that fall. Thirty-two stories down to what looked like a sheet and an inflatable mattress. The president was as good as dead. Shinra was over. With no one to lead it, the company would shut down. Reno would be unemployed, forcing himself and his mother back to the streets to fight for their food. Maybe Reno would start working the corners to make some extra money. He had good training, so maybe he could even work as a bodyguard for someone famous. He had to start polishing up his resume, and fast. Shinra was gone.
When all of those thoughts finished racing through his head, Rufus hit the cushion.
Reno leaned further out the window in shock, watching as medics reluctantly came forward. Rude used the megaphone to yell up at Reno to jump, but the Turk slowly shook his head. The bloodstain on the white cushion wasn't encouraging him to jump at all. He shook his head and backed up, going back inside. He turned around to try the stairs again, but his exit was blocked by fire. He ran to find another exit, but there wasn't one open. He could still hear Rude screaming up at him, but it was eventually drowned out as the ceiling began to fall on him.
He dove out of the way, diving through a wall of flames to get back out into the hall. He patted out spots on his suit that had caught fire as he got to his feet, running for the stairwell as he heard the noise of the building falling behind him. He threw open the door to the stairs and started running down, coughing on thick fumes of smoke. He just had to get out…
On the ground, Rufus had woken up thanks to the medical crew. He was being loaded into the back of an ambulance, tears running down his face at the immense pain. It felt as if his spine was slowly being pulled out and his legs were dangling in acid. He could hear the thunderous sounds of the Shinra building falling, along with people screaming and shouting in pain and demands of what was wrong. The ambulance began to move and he groaned as he felt the doctors begin to stitch up his face after cleaning the wound. He felt a mask strapped over his face, lulling him back to sleep, but there was one loud thought that crossed his mind before he passed out again.
Where was Reno?
Reno was still in the stairway. He had collapsed around the twenty-fifth floor, however, coughing too violently on the smoke to keep going. He refused to try anymore. This was it for him. A fitting death, to die in the place he had fought his whole life to work in. After dropping his boss to his death, why not die in a stairwell? His mother could live on her own… He was worried about his coworkers more, of course. And, even more than them, Rufus Shinra. He even began to cry, knowing he had been the one to drop him. To kill him.
He passed out from the smoke, not noticing when Elena and Tseng stumbled past and hauled him up to help him out.
"Fucking key," Reno snarled, so nervous that he couldn't even get the key into the lock on Rufus Shinra's front door. He kept trying, but he kept shaking. He had a large duffel bag over one arm that held several changes of clothes and anything else he thought he would need, and a plate of cookies that his mother had made in his free hand.
The door suddenly opened, Rude on the other side. "Reno, it was unlocked…"
He blinked. "Oh…"
Rude took the plate of cookies as Reno put the key in his pocket. He walked in to see Dark Nation sitting just behind Rude, suddenly growling when Reno stepped in. Rude just bumped her head a bit and she stopped, but her ears were still flat to her head.
"Tseng is showing the president the renovations. We'll be leaving soon. There's a guest bedroom that you can use that's upstairs for you to use."
Reno nodded a bit at Rude's three off-topic statements and followed him, staying as far away from Dark Nation as possible as she followed him with her ears down. They went upstairs and past the bathroom, where Tseng was demonstrating how to use the bars on the tub. For Rufus's sake, they all hoped he had good upper body strength.
"In here," Rude said simply, opening a door at the end of the hall. "I'll go put the cookies in the kitchen." He walked out, leaving Reno to settle in himself.
"Thanks," Reno mumbled, walking in and turning on the light. The room was large, to Reno's surprise. Taking away from that surprise was the fact that the large room was completely black and white. There wasn't even any gray.
He sighed and placed his bag on the small bed, figuring he could look around later. He heard Rufus downstairs now, saying goodbye to Tseng and Rude. Taking the opportunity, Reno hurried to the man's room and went for the drawer his picture was in, just to see if it was still there.
He pulled it open and looked, but the picture was gone. He frowned and went over to a trashcan that held no trash out of the ordinary, just food wrappers, papers, or old bandages, and saw the picture inside. It was chopped into pieces, but Reno knew it was the picture of him. He was staring at his own eye, after all.
"Reno?"
He left the room and went down the stairs, following Rufus's voice. "Yes, Sir?"
"You got lucky again. Tseng brought me dinner. You'll just have to reheat it." He began to roll himself for the kitchen, Dark Nation trotting loyally behind him.
Reno smiled and followed. "I brought you something too. When I told Ma I was staying here for a while, she baked some cookies for ya."
Rufus had found the cookies by the time Reno stopped talking, and he had pulled the plate onto his lap. He looked to Reno, confused. "Why would she make me cookies?"
Reno leaned against the counter, smiling. "She's a nice lady. Besides, she's all upset that you're this hurt. She threatened to come live with you in my place."
He hummed thoughtfully and put the plate of chocolate chip cookies back on the counter. "I'll eat some later. I'm not hungry now."
Reno glanced at the clock. "It's almost seven, Sir. You aren't hungry at all?"
"No." He rolled himself back from the counter and sighed, closing his eyes as his hands gripped the arm rests of his wheelchair. He hurt so bad today, but he had already taken all the pills he could. He couldn't take any more until tomorrow morning. His back was throbbing, his arms were tired and heavy from testing out everything Tseng had installed multiple times, and he had a dull headache.
Reno seemed to notice his discomfort. "Is there anything you want me to do, Sir?"
He sighed, his teeth clenched in pain. There were a lot of things he wished Reno could do. For example, he would really like his legs back… "I'd like a bath." He opened his eyes to look at Reno. "I only need help getting up the stairs and undressing. I can do the rest myself."
Reno wasn't about to say that that was what he had done yesterday. "Alright." He walked behind Rufus and began to push him for the stairs, not seeing the look of immense relief on Rufus's face at the gesture. He didn't know Rufus was so tired.
He stopped the chair at the base of the stairs and made to pick him up, but Rufus was too busy trying to shift his weight to make this easier.
"I'll need my chair. After you put me in the bathroom, carry up the chair and push it next to the tub."
"Got it." He picked Rufus up and made his way up the stairs, glad that he didn't weigh too much. Of course, that weight had been lost in his state of sickness. He didn't have much of an appetite anymore. Depression and medication tended to have that effect.
Reno placed him on the edge of the bathtub and left to get the chair. While he was gone, Rufus had managed to get his top half undressed and managed to get his pants down to his ankles. Struggling, he eventually managed to get both his pants and his underwear off, breathing havily with the exertion when he finished. As Reno rolled the chair in, Rufus had managed to lower himself into the tub with the help of the steel bars Tseng had installed and was starting the water.
Reno smiled. "Looks like you're getting the hang of it, huh?"
Rufus looked over at him, but didn't say whatever he opened his mouth to say. He winced at the pain in his back, gritting his teeth.
Reno frowned. "Sir?"
"I'm fine," he said heavily, closing his eyes and blindly turning on the water. "I'll call for you when I need more help."
Reno nodded and slipped out, standing aside as Dark Nation came into the room.
As soon as he heard Reno turn on the TV downstairs, Rufus let himself cry. Dark Nation whined at the tears and leaned over, licking them off his face. The act only made him cry harder, as he couldn't find the strength in his arms to wipe his own eyes. He really couldn't do anything.
He hated this. He hated relying on others to take care of him. He was an independent person, and he always had been. He never needed to rely on anyone for anything. But now… Now, he couldn't even live in his own house by himself! He couldn't cook, he could barely bathe himself, he couldn't get into his bed, he couldn't get up and down the stairs, he couldn't take Dark Nation for walks like he used to, he couldn't even wipe his own tears away! He hated this feeling of pain and helplessness. He felt like some sort of child, incapable of wiping his own ass.
He knew he wouldn't have the strength to get out of the tub, and he knew he didn't even have the strength to wash himself now. He didn't want to call Reno though. He didn't want him to see his boss in such a state of helplessness and depression. Reno had enough on his plate than to care about how badly the president was doing. He probably didn't even care.
In Rufus's current state of mind, suicide was extremely tempting.