A Day in the Life
Collection of drabbles.
l l l Part 27 l l l
Fucking Ancient.
Reno stumbled out of the bar and into the dimly lit street outside. Greeted with the polluted air, he inwardly cringed.
Gotta get out of this shithole and find me some fucking fresh air.
As he awkwardly ambled down the street, his senses dazed and lacking the necessary alertness for the hour of night, his mind recalled what he'd been attempting to drown out for the last several hours. The alcohol coursed heavily within his system, but flashes of conversation played before his eyes, causing him to stagger as his vision played tricks on him. He sort of knew what direction he was heading, but the more he let his mind wander, the more confused he was of his actual location. He could hear Tseng's voice in his head—not surprisingly—but it was tinged with a feeling of regret and a degree of hesitancy. And beyond the walls of his carefully constructed face, Tseng wasn't able to hide the misery clawing at his heart.
Who does she think she is—was—what-the-fuck-ever…! She—where the hell am I?
Startled, Reno stopped walking and looked around, his gaze barely focusing enough to allow for any sign of familiarity until his eyes locked on the imposing building in the distance.
Fucking Shinra.
And as much as he hated the SEC at this point, and all the lies devouring it from the inside, it was the only place he could go.
And he hated Cloud the most for being the one to get her involved. If she hadn't been with the blond SOLDIER-wanna-be boy-toy, the girl would have been fine. Reno halted in his musings, a small voice in his head clawing at his mind.
She wouldn't be fine—she'd still be dead.
Reno would easily admit he had no honest feelings for the young woman, but she was the last link to the puzzle that had begun to form in his mind over the past several years. The puzzle that began with a mouthy brunet and ended with an Ancient.
As her picture faded from his memory and tucked itself away into the file labeled "Shinra Secrets" in his mind, he faltered. She wasn't the last link, but she was the most important. And now she was dead. Instead, he let his head drop and a deep sigh pull itself from his lungs—the alcohol in his system loosening his limbs and draining his body of every bit of strength he wished he had.
And as he thought of Zack, the young man whom he wished he'd actually spent more time with, his mind brought him back to the brunet's younger friend—the blond.
Fucking Strife.
Ever since Cloud returned, Reno's senses had been thrust into chaos. He remembered the way Zack walked, the way he fought, and the way those eyes looked. And he saw all of those in the short blond boy running around pretending to be Shinra material. Something had changed in the blond since his escape from Shinra—something had changed in them all.
And he hated him for it.
l l l
to be continued.