~~This section of story contains talk of abuse to children. It is horrifying and I do not condone such actions or behaviors. This is simply a flash back to Reno's past and what had made him become the man he is today. If such things offend you, please do not read. While it does explain things later in the story it is not essential. If you would like the abridged version please message me and I will let you know what you missed. ~CR
I can remember the first time I ever had a man look at me with unhindered want. I was five years old at the time and had been on the street a month. My parents had been murdered in a Shinra raid and I was all I had in the world. A man saw me huddled in a box around late October. He went to the nearest fast food place and bought me a cheeseburger. I had never liked cheeseburgers, but after not eating for three days it was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted. He told me his name was Robin and he could take me somewhere that would keep me warm, fed and give me a place to sleep if I was willing to do work for them. I jumped at the opportunity. No business would hire a five year old and with no money I wouldn't last through the winter.
I should have stayed in the box.
He took me to a place with many other children that were all waiting for a chance at survival. They lined us up, stripped us down and took us to the showers. There, several women scrubbed us clean and gave us a simple pair of underwear with a bee on the hip. We were led into a warm room where a man sat in a large chair. He was very old looking, but at his side stood a younger man in a red jacket.
"Welcome to the Honey Bee," the younger man said as he stepped forward. "You are all about to be tested and if you pass we will give you a job and a place to live. Each of you are to come up one by one and stand before me. When I ask you, tell me your name and how old you are. If I have any other questions you are to answer them without hesitation."
Everyone was so nervous. The first few hesitated a bit, but once we got a rhythm the process went faster and faster. The line got shorter and shorter, each kid telling name and age, and the man would point either right or left after he stared at you for a moment. Those that went right were handed their clothes and sent back to the streets. Those that went left were handed a red or pink robe and walked to a room beyond.
When it was my turn, I stepped up, "I'm Reno. I am five years old."
The man's sharp eyes stared at me, looking me over as if inspecting my very being. It was very uneasy being looked at like that – like I was a shirt he was deciding if he liked or not.
"Has anyone dyed your hair?" he said, his nasally voice echoing in the large room.
"No."
It was then that the look in the man's eyes changed. The hardness was gone and was quickly replaced by something I couldn't describe at the time. I only know now that it was want. He pointed to the left and I happily took my robe and joined the others. We were taken into a large dining room filled with men and women with large stacks of paper. We were each led to a person who quickly told us what was on the papers and told us where to scribble our names. If we couldn't spell our names or write anything to identify us they pricked our finger and asked us to press next to a scribble we had made.
After the last of us had finished the paperwork, the man in the red jacket entered with a huge smile on his face, "Congratulations boys and girls! You are now employees at the Honey Bee Inn. I am Mr. Corneo, second in command to Don DeLuca, and I am now your new 'mother'. Don DeLuca has been a generous enough 'father' to open his doors to you and save you from the bitter cold outside. You have each just signed a contract binding you to him until you can repay the kindness he has bestowed upon you. You will live here until you can buy your way out of the contract. Don't worry, you will live like kings and queens here! You will be given clothes, your own bed, and food beyond your wildest imagination! Now, because of your great cooperation let's all have something to eat shall we?"
Cooks brought us in hot stew, fresh bread and glasses of milk. It was a feast fit for royalty to us. We all mingled and ate happily, and though there were many eyes in the room I constantly felt like someone was watching me. I soon discovered that it was in fact the man who called himself our "mother". Mr. Corneo never once took his eyes off me the whole meal and though it frightened me, it also made me excited.
It was shortly after the meal that the naming ceremony began, and they gave us all new names to go by. Several boys were alarmed to be given very girly names, but none of us cared. We were all just happy to get out of the cold. What fools we were.
I was the last in line and Mr. Corneo came down from his chair to name me.
"My mother once told me of a red knight that slayed dragons and saved villages. He wandered from town to town doing good and giving all he had to those who had nothing. One day he met a beautiful maiden who was wandering down the side of the road. Her beauty caused the knight to instantly fall in love with her and he climbed down from his mighty steed to aid her. She told him about an evil witch who had taken her heart and made it so she would wander the world heartless until the end of time. When the knight asked what he could do to save her, she said that the only way to break the spell was to be given a pure heart. The knight drew his knife and without question plunged it deep into his chest and drew out his heart. The maiden smiled and accepted the heart, thanking the knight for his selfless sacrifice so that she could be free. The maiden replaced her heart and transformed to her true form, a fairy. Unable to save the knight, she instead took his spirit and set it free into the world so that it could go forth and continue to save people. Do you know what the red knight's name was?"
I shook my head.
"His name was Nevada. You will be named after that selfless knight. Your name will be Nevada."
For many years, Corneo taught us the arts needed to survive. We were taught how to dance and entertain others. We were taught impeccable manners and simple things like how to write our names.
Although we were often asked to entertain guests, we were never allowed to sleep with them. We were simply there as a way to tease the guests. We were more like a host club then actual whores. That is, until we turned eight. That was the age you were to start taking on customers and after hosting for several years, we each had an entourage that wanted a piece.
That was when everything changed.
I had one customer that showed up every night. His name was Jericho, but asked me to call him Jeri. He was an average Wutain man, but he had the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen. They were so intoxicating; I loved feeling them on me.
Our first night together, he didn't ask for sex like all of the other's clients did. He sat me on the bed and gave me my first piano lesson from the keyboard he had set up beside the bed. He came back night after night and before long I could play several pieces of music. It was after I could play Beethoven's 9th symphony that he even started attempting to get intimate. He would ask me to play the piano while he played with my body, but never once did he enter me.
Once I could play any song he asked me to out of a music book, he moved onto teaching me some math and some reading. He taught me my name and covered me in kisses when I wrote it on my own for the first time. Although by most standards he would be considered a pervert, among the standards of Don DeLuca's he was amazing.
All of the children my age were thrown to the wolves after their eighth birthday. Most ended up torn and bleeding after numerous partners, but select lucky few had continuous customers whose evils were known. They were better than the strangers... the ones who could hurt them in ways that were unimaginable to us young and naive few. I was the luckiest; Jeri had paid for me not to be taken by anyone but him and he insisted that I had at the very least a basic education. The music came easily and the math was fine, but then there was writing. Reading and writing were the only things I struggled on and it seemed no matter how hard I tried I couldn't move on past the basic alphabet and my own name. I could tell Jeri was concerned and a bit disappointed but he stuck by my side and tried harder. I loved Jeri's attention and did anything to make him happy.
That was until Silas.
Silas was an older prostitute, the best in Don DeLuca's harem. He had famously bought his way out and yet still remained in the services of the Don. His eyes were hard and shifty, but looked at me the same way Mr. Corneo's had, and the same way Jeri did every time I saw him. He always reminded me of a weasel. He was the dance teacher and had made it clear the day I arrived that he wanted to break me in one night. I was on my way to see Jeri when he caught me. He had just gotten off work and reeked of booze. Without a word he grabbed me up and took me to his room, despite my fighting. He tore off my robe and roughly kissed me. I tried to run, I fought with all I had, but that didn't stop him. If anything it made him happier. He used me and threw me out of his room like a piece of trash. I was bleeding, every move I made hurt, and for the life of me I couldn't stop sobbing. I forced myself to stand and made my way to the room Jeri met me in. The moment I stepped in the door way the look in his eyes changed. He helped me get into the bed and left to go find Don DeLuca.
Mr. Corneo came in and asked about what had happened. After I told him, he took me to the in-house doctor and went to talk to Silas. When he returned I asked if I could see Jeri. He told me I couldn't because he didn't want to play with a toy he didn't break. I didn't understand; Jericho was my friend. Corneo explained that I was just a toy to him and he didn't want to play with a broken toy that he had had no part in breaking. I realized at that moment that I wasn't a person in these people's eyes. I was a toy or a pet that they rented out for others to play with. They cleaned me up and sent me on my way.
The next time I saw Silas, he had a bandage over one of his eyes, but the other one looked at with so much hate it was almost stifling. It wasn't long after I healed that I was put into regular circulation with the other boys. The only one who looked at me with that unbridled hunger was Mr. Corneo, and he made sure that I was only given to customers of a certain affluence. Due to the exclusiveness that Corneo had put on me I became a highly requested item, so to draw in a crowd Corneo had me dance nightly. It wasn't long after my thirteenth birthday that I was the most popular whore in the entire building. With such an unprecedented number of people wanting one person , they opened it up for people to bid on a slot of time to be with me. I was renowned around Wall Market, advertised all over as the most wanted child in the world.
It was the evening after the death of Don DeLuca that the newly announced Don Corneo came to me. He told me that he would buy me out of my contract and save me from the life I was leading if I married him that very night. I was fifteen at the time and after a decade of his constant greedy stares I had grown weary of him. I turned him down and asked him to leave my room. He left angrily and told me that he would make sure I regretted my decision. He doubled my living expenses and made the nearly impossible task of accumulating enough money to leave completely impossible.
Little did he know that the fates were smiling on me. Not a week after his decision, a man came in and refused to pay for my services. When I started to argue, he had the nerve to hit me clean across the face and roughly throw me to the floor like a common street whore. It all happened so fast I can't remember how exactly the knife got in my hand, but I do remember kneeling on top of the man covered in his blood. The next thing I knew three men in suits burst into the room with guns drawn. They looked shocked, but not that there was a dead body. They looked more shocked that I had been the one to kill him. I expected to be taken to jail and tried for murder but nothing like that came. It wasn't until a week later when I was called to Corneo's office that I found out why.
A man in a suit greeted me and warmly asked me to take a seat across from him. Corneo had an angry look on his face, but he said nothing to me. I could only wonder what the man had to say.
"You successfully assassinated a man that has killed over forty Turks and an even greater number of civilians. As a symbol of our immense thanks, the Shinra Electric Power Company would like to buy out your contract here and offer you a position as a member of the Investigation Division of the Department of General Affairs – of the Turks. You will be a soldier in the great Shinra army and you will be given compensation for the duties you perform."
It wasn't the job description or the freedom they offered that made me say yes. It was the look in the man's eyes as he offered it. I was a new toy and he desperately wanted me to play with. I had longed for that look since I had lost it so many years ago.
"Glad to hear it, Nevada. My name is Veld. I think we will work wonderfully together."
"Thank you for the opportunity, Veld, but could you do me one favor? Please call me Reno. Nevada sounds like a hooker's name."
Is Reno actually okay? Does seeing your life flash before your eyes mean something horrible? Will the villagers ever accept him? All will be explained, NEXT CHAPTER! I know, I know you all probably want to kill me for this random filler, but even the best anime shows and video games have side quests and filler episodes. This chapter was edited by my wonderful friend KissofJudas. She also doubles as my amazing Tseng expert and sometimes beta's for me. She's pretty awesome and you should go check her out. I would like to thank KissofJudas, bettina1959, VioletIsInPain, jennie300303, Namantos, 6WaysToSunday, and fetherhd for the lovely reviews. Although this was a flashback, I hope you liked it just the same. I may even post the next chapter tonight if things go over well. Let me know what you think about the random change up! Thank you for reading, hope you liked it! ~CR