AN: Just as a note, I'm using some (most) of the dialogue from AC (no, I don't own it), but some of the things I tweaked or left out altogether. Drop me a review and let me know what you think.
"You're fucking kidding me!" Reno screeched. "Fuck being the good guys! I didn't sign up for this shit!"
"You're a Turk," Rude grunted, out of breath. "Of course you signed up for it."
"Do you see that!?" Reno screamed at him as they ran, jabbing a finger in the air as a roar echoed, jarring their bones. "Fucking Bahamut-Sin! They summoned fucking BAHAMUT-SIN!"
"Is that why you hit me in the face?" Rude snapped. His nose still hurt.
"Get over it, partner! I've hit you in worse places bef—shit!" Reno stopped running and twisted around to look. "The kids." What little color that had been in his face drained faster than Rude could blink. "Rude, the fucking kids."
Rude didn't have to ask to know what his partner was thinking about. They dashed back a few paces, and Rude scooped up two of the children, one under each arm. Reno danced around awkwardly for a second before hoisting a blond boy into his arms. The child fought, growling, and Reno spit curses into his face. Rude rolled his eyes. Reno would make a fabulous father someday.
"Ow! You little shit!" Reno growled as the boy shoved two fingers up his nostrils. He ripped the small arm away from his nose and followed Rude with his squirming bundle. "I swear to Gaia, I'll fuck you up if I live through this! You little bastard!"
An explosion shook the ground and the Turks were blasted off their feet, landing several feet away flat on their stomachs. Thankfully, the kids had rolled free before the impact and were staggering to their feet.
Reno groaned, holding his head as he pushed himself up on one arm. A soft, deadly chuckle sounded behind him, and he froze.
"Are we having fun?" Yazoo cooed.
"The time of my life!" Reno shot back, flipping to his feet and striking out at Yazoo with a back kick. The remnant laughed, blocking his foot and leaping back a couple feet.
"Such good daddy material," he said, his voice still soft and deadly, jerking a chin towards the tiny blond devil a few feet away. "No one's gonna want to raise kids of their own with such a foul-mouthed man, Turk."
Reno caught his breath, surprised enough to laugh. He caught Yazoo's fist as it came towards him, wincing at the impact. Fuck, he's strong. He jerked the other man's arm forward, headbutting the silver-haired remnant hard in the face and knocking him back a couple yards. "Good thing I'm GAYER THAN A PICNIC BASKET!" he bellowed after him.
Rude blocked a blow from Loz, shaking his head at his partner's behavior. The day Reno learned to hold his tongue would be a blessed day indeed.
Loz was raining blows down on him, and Rude gritted his teeth, blocking some and taking more hits on his already aching body. The remnant smirked at him, then spun and kicked hard into his stomach.
Rude gasped, the wind knocked out of him as he tumbled backwards onto his back, his shades flying off his face. He was just pushing himself to his feet when Reno landed next to him in a crouch, panting, Rude's sunglasses crunching under his feet. Rude glared at him, but kept his mouth shut, pulling his spare pair from his blazer. They both straightened, brushing dirt from their clothes, bracing themselves for the next attack as the two remnants closed in on them.
"Mother Schmother," Reno was muttering. "It's Jenova's friggin' head."
"Hey!" Yazoo cried in a wounded voice. "I will not have you refer to Mother that way!"
"You meanie," Loz sniffed.
"Our apologies," Rude said absently, settling his shades on his face.
"Yeah yeah, your ma's cool," Reno added, then paused. "What the hell am I sayin'?" They charged again, matching punch for punch and kick for kick, pushing the other two back until Loz sent Reno flying into Rude and they both went down again, skidding down the street. Rude gasped in pain as the harsh asphalt burned through his blazer and shirt and scraped his back raw. Reno was sprawled on top of him, protected from the road by his partner's broad body.
"Get off," Rude wheezed. With his adrenaline up there was no telling how his body would react to the close proximity, no matter how much he told it to shut up and fight. They scrambled to their feet. Reno's nose was bloodied and his lip was split, but he ignored the throbbing pain. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, shaking off the blood that gathered. He hand-signaled Rude and they moved to stand back-to-back, Rude hissing in a breath at the sting that accompanied Reno's blazer brushing against the road rash on his back.
Reno glanced quickly over to Bahamut-Sin. "Yo, Rude," he said with a grin. "Take a look at AVALANCHE, remastered!" Rude spared a look and grunted, ears perking up as the roar of an engine cut the air through the sounds of battle.
"Strife," he said.
"It's about damn time," Reno growled. "I'm not mako-enhanced enough to deal with this shit." He brought up his arms quickly to field a kick from Yazoo, the force of it making his teeth ache.
Something was moving rapidly at the edge of Rude's vision. He chanced a look away from his opponents. Had it just been Strife slaying Bahamut-Sin? No, it was—
"Reno!" The redhead looked up at Rude's cry and they both watched in horror as Rufus's body tumbled through the air.
"Rufus!" Reno cried. Before either of them could move a muscle, nets seemed to appear in midair, catching the young president safely. "Who…" Kadaj rushed past them, clutching a black box, and Yazoo and Loz broke away from their opponents and followed. Reno tsked. "Cowards!" he yelled after them as the remnants mounted their bikes and sped off in a cloud of dust. Not two seconds had passed before Cloud was pursuing them on Fenrir, zooming by the Turks so closely that the resulting wind tugged at their clothes.
"Sorry we're late," came Tseng's deep voice. Reno turned in surprise and relief to see his director and Elena helping Rufus down from the suspended nets.
"Better late than never," Elena said, smiling. She and Tseng were both bandaged heavily, and Tseng's hair was loosed from its customary ponytail.
"Nine lives, eh?" Reno smirked. Elena looked puzzled. "Never mind," the redhead muttered.
"Get to the choppers and go after them," Rufus cut in, holding the arm that was rotting with the Stigma. His sawed-off shotgun lay at his feet. "I'll be fine here with Tseng and Elena."
"Sure thing, boss man," said Reno, pulling on Rude's sleeve. "Come on, partner."
They became airborne, Reno piloting the chopper and Rude searching for the remnants.
"There," he shouted to Reno over the buffeting air. Reno swooped lower, opening fire on the bridge down below. He felt something whiz past him, and the whole damn bridge collapsed right in front of his eyes.
"What the fuck, Rude? Where did you get a damn rocket launcher?" he yelled. The words were lost in the wind, and Yazoo launching himself off the bridge and into Rude's chest prevented him from answering anyway. "Rude!" Reno cried as his partner disappeared out the side door of the chopper. His hands flew to the flying controls. They buzzed angrily, and the joystick came away in his hand. "That fucking asshole and his fucking gun," Reno bit out. The chopper was fishtailing now, making his stomach churn. Reno leapt up, wildly and foolishly looking around the cabin for some way to steer. "No, no, don't do this to me," he muttered, leaning out of the open side. His heart was hammering, panic worming its way into his chest. He hadn't seen Rude's body fall, but…
"Hey, Rude, you're all right," came a drawling voice as Rude hauled himself up on one of the chopper's wheels. His muscles were screaming with the effort.
"Yeah, I'm just peachy," he gritted out, all he had time to say before the chopper, still swinging out of control, clipped a nearby tower, sending them both plummeting to the road. They lay there for a minute, stunned.
"No way we should've survived that," Reno groaned. A line dropped down between them before Rude could answer, and they looked up to see Elena waving furiously at them from Tseng's chopper. "What are they doing here?"
"Hey guys!" she shrieked over the whirring of the rotors. Rude grabbed on with one arm and caught Reno around the chest with the other, drawing a startled cry from his partner. The winch turned, slowly drawing them up to the waiting vehicle. Rude gritted his teeth, sweat beading his bald head. Reno wasn't heavy, but supporting both their weight with one arm while injured was no mean feat. Reno noticed the tension in Rude's face and wormed a hand free, reaching up and gripping the cord himself to take some of the strain off his partner, fighting off the constricting feeling of Rude's thick arm around his chest. They reached the chopper and Rude gave a mighty heave, hoisting Reno up. The redhead scrambled over the edge and leaned over to offer his hand, pulling Rude up after him with a grunt of effort.
"Yo, let us down over there, in front of them," Reno yelled to Tseng.
"Why?" the Wutaiian shouted back, but he obeyed his second-in-command, turning the chopper in a wide arc.
"You'll see!" There was a smirk in Reno's voice. Rude saw his eyes cut towards the explosives that lay in the corner of the cabin and immediately knew what his partner was thinking.
Tseng dropped them off a couple hundred yards between where Kadaj was fleeing and Cloud and the other remnants were pursuing, right at the open mouth of a tunnel that yawned over the wide highway. Reno tossed one of the bombs to Rude. As the chopper veered away, he turned to the older Turk.
"Hey, partner. This thing, uh, got any bite to it?" He held out the explosive.
Rude smirked. "Shinra technology at its finest."
"Oh, so you made this."
"If nothing else, it's…flashy."
"Oh, good," Reno purred, his pale lips twitching.
"You love it, I know," Rude told him. Reno grinned.
"Looks like today, we're clockin' out early."
They waited a few beats and Fenrir shot out of the tunnel, streaking between them after Kadaj. The Turks caught one glimpse of Cloud's tight, determined face and then he was gone, his black coat billowing behind him.
"Set it now!" Reno yelled over the roar of the engine, but Rude was already wiring the timer to the bombs.
"It's set. Go!" They ran, Reno signaling furiously to the chopper that was still hovering close by. Tseng brought the bird in close and they leapt aboard.
"Go, go, go!" Reno was screaming at Tseng, and for once the director didn't berate him for insubordination, just started to turn the chopper. Reno made a frustrated noise. "You ain't quick enough! Get out!" he yelled at Tseng over the whirring motor, ripping off his boss's flight headphones and hauling him out of the pilot's seat. Tseng was shoved bodily at Rude, a murderous look on his usually calm features. Rude caught the Wutaiian man and gave him an apologetic shrug as Reno settled into the pilot's seat, his fingers flying over buttons and levers as he jerked the helicopter around roughly.
"He is the best," Rude shouted in Tseng's ear.
"He's the best at pissing me off!" Tseng yelled back, and even with his multitude of bandages, he managed to look threatening. Rude winced, knowing Reno would pay for his rough treatment of their director later. For now, his partner was effortlessly guiding them away from the blasting zone, quick and efficient in his movements. Rude checked his watch.
"Any second now," he called. The words had barely left his lips when he heard the rumbling of the explosion and the chopper rocked violently from the shockwaves. Reno cursed, fighting for control, and Elena gave a shriek. Everyone but Reno grabbed on to each other as the floor bucked under their feet and Reno clenched his teeth, his arms rigid as he clutched the flight controls. The chopper veered, pulling free from the power of the explosion, and steadied again. Reno let out a shaky breath and laughed nervously.
"Close one, huh?"
No one bothered to answer. Tseng looked mollified; he knew that they would have died had he still been in the pilot's seat. Reno glanced back to make sure everyone was still aboard and then steered them back towards the middle of Edge.
They touched down on the helipad of one of the skyscrapers that ringed the city square and rode the elevator down to ground level.
"What'd ya do with the prez?" Reno asked Tseng.
Tseng winced. "He told us to leave him and go after you." They stepped out of the lift and through the building's double doors.
The square was a shambles, with bodies littering the cracked asphalt. Rude's eyes swept over them, looking for Rufus.
Reno's sharp eyes found him first. "There!" The young president was slumped against an alley wall, his white clothing stark against the dirty black asphalt. Tseng started to lift him, his face tight with pain from the pulling on his wounds. Rude moved to help, looping Rufus's arm around his broad shoulders.
Rain started to spatter the ground, steam rising from the pavement with the acrid smell of hot tar. Elena made a startled noise and pointed at the hand where Rufus's Geostigma peeked out from his sleeve.
The rotting area shimmered green as the rain hit it, melting away and leaving clean, smooth, healthy skin in its place.
"Oh," Tseng said, his voice full of wonder, and in a rush, he was unbuttoning Rufus's coat and pulling it off his shoulders.
Reno cackled. "Is it really the time ta screw your boss, Tseng? We're all watchin'."
"Quiet, Reno," Tseng snapped. With Rufus's tired help, he got the president bare to the waist, and Reno fell into a sober silence at the glimpse of how far the Stigma had spread. Swaths of skin were mottled a blackish brown, but like the spot on Rufus's hand, as the rain touched the afflicted areas, they turned a shimmering green and melted away. Rufus gave a little sigh of relief and untangled himself from the two Turks holding him.
"I'm fine now," he told them as regally as he could while half naked. "Let's return to headquarters. Tseng, tomorrow have your uninjured Turks assist in rebuilding the city. Contact Strife, too." Tseng dipped his head in acknowledgment.
Rude shook his head as Rufus walked towards the chopper. Only their president could manage to act so dismissive after nearly dying. He started to follow, pausing when Tseng, Elena, and Reno all gasped simultaneously. "What?"
"Look at your fuckin' back, partner. Looks like a side of fresh-cut beef," Reno told him, ever the wordsmith.
"It's fine," Rude said shortly, though in truth, the adrenaline was finally wearing off and it was starting to twinge. "Let's just go back."
All through the ride back to Healin the hurt grew and every bump made him grit his teeth, but Rude managed to keep the pain from his face until he was back in his room. Once there, he painfully stripped off his tattered jacket with a hiss. He unbuttoned his shirt and started to remove it, but the scraped skin on his back screamed and he bit back a yell of pain.
Someone kicked at his door. "Yo, partner. Let me in," came Reno's voice. Rude opened the door and Reno slipped into the room, his arms full. Onto the bed he dumped an armful of bandages, clean cloths, and disinfectant. "Sit down," he told Rude in what qualified as a gentle voice for someone like Reno.
"I'm fine, Reno," the older man said, still standing.
"Partner, you know how damn stubborn I am. Now sit your ass down or I'm stealing every pair of sunglasses you own and throwin' them in the incinerator." There was the old Reno.
With a dirty look from behind his threatened shades, Rude sat with his back to Reno. Thin white hands reached around to his front and slid his ruined shirt off his shoulders and down his arms. Painfully, Rude shook his hands free of the cuffs. Reno wet one of the cloths he'd brought with him in the bathroom sink and started sponging dried blood from Rude's shoulders and back. For once, he was quiet, which made Rude slightly uncomfortable. When Reno was quiet, he was thinking seriously about something.
The redhead sat back and looked at Rude's newly cleaned back. "Might need to get these tats touched up after this heals, partner." The scrapes nearly obliterated the body of the enormous dragon that normally twisted over Rude's back.
"Don't feel deep enough," Rude grunted back. "Fuck, watch it, Reno!" The redhead had poured disinfectant over the scrapes with no warning, and it felt like his skin was melting off in a wash of fire. Reno didn't answer, only started taping bandages over the large abrasions. "Reno?"
"You fuckin' scared the shit out of me, Rude," Reno snapped suddenly, his hands trembling as he slapped on another bandage. Rude gave a loud grunt of pain, which, predictably, Reno ignored.
"By getting road rash?" Rude retorted. "I've survived worse, Reno. It's not even life-threatening."
"Not the road rash!" Reno almost yelled back. "Not the fucking road rash, you asshole! When that piece of shit remnant knocked you out of the chopper, I—" He stopped and swallowed hard, horrified to hear his voice shaking with residual fear. "I thought you were gone, man."
Rude desperately wanted to turn and look at Reno's face, but he knew the redhead wouldn't appreciate it. "Takes a lot more than that to kill me," he murmured.
"I know. I just…I've always been able to see it before. This time, you were just…whoosh. Gone."
"I'm sorry," Rude quietly offered, not knowing what else to say. He felt something against his right shoulder, which was mostly uninjured, and he stiffened slightly. Reno was resting his forehead gently against Rude's shoulder blade, taking deep, shuddering breaths to calm down. "Breathe," Rude reminded him.
"I am breathing," Reno gritted, but his breaths were still raspy, as though he was having trouble drawing oxygen from them.
"It's going to be okay," Rude continued, ignoring him. "Stop panicking, take deep breaths, slowly." He had no idea what he was saying, but it was better than Reno having a panic attack, and it seemed to work. Gradually, the redhead's breathing evened out, but he kept his head against Rude's shoulder. The bigger man felt himself starting to sweat, wishing his partner would move, or at the very least stop acting so…un-Reno-like.
"That night," Reno started. "Three years ago…I never thanked you for—"
"Don't," Rude interrupted. The emotions running high in the room were thickening the air, causing a strange feeling that had long been forgotten to stir in his chest. "You would have done the same for me."
Reno laughed bitterly. "You wouldn't have been actin' like that in the first place, partner." He finally pulled back a little and finished taping on the bandages, moving to sit on the edge of the bed next to Rude. He took a swig of the disinfectant, which turned out to be vodka, and made a face, then passed the bottle to Rude.
"You don't know that," Rude said quietly. He took a mouthful of vodka, then another, passing the bottle back.
"Don't give me that," Reno shot back. "You woulda dropped that damned plate and then gone home, eaten dinner, and slept like a baby." The words were out before he could swallow them.
Rude stiffened. "Excuse me?"
Reno gulped, knowing he'd made a bad mistake. "I-I didn't mean it like that, man, honest. I just—" He fiddled with the bottle in his hands, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.
Rude turned to him, taking off his shades. His eyes were angry, the brows drawn tight. Reno felt a little prickle that might have been fear at the back of his neck. "You think I could have killed all those people, all those children, and been fine with it? I may be quiet, Reno, and I may not show my feelings often, but no human could walk away from something like that. You know me better than anyone, and that's what you think of me?" His voice had risen alarmingly in volume, rumbling in his chest like an angry animal.
"No, it's not! My hand to Gaia, I got no idea why I said that." Reno rubbed a hand over his face, gulping more vodka down nervously. "Look, Rude, I know I'm a damn good Turk. Why else would Tseng make me his second when I piss him off so much? But if Tseng ever knew I nearly blew my brains out over killing a bunch of people, well, I wouldn't have to blow my brains out. And you're—you might feel the things I feel, but you don't do the stupid shit I do."
Rude was quiet for a minute. He hated thinking of that night, and when Reno put words to what he'd been about to do in that dark living room, it made things worse. "We're Turks, Reno," he said finally. "But we're still human. Every night, before I can go to sleep, I see the faces of all the people I've shot, stabbed, beaten to death, what have you. It doesn't matter that most of them deserved it. Everyone has different ways of dealing with the shit we have to do."
Amazingly, Reno was quiet. "I never knew that," he said at last. "Gods, there's so many things I don't know about you." He propped his elbows on his knees and rested his chin in one hand. "Bein' a Turk is the only damn thing I was ever any good at," he mused. "Sometimes I forget I'm a shitty friend." He took another few swigs of vodka, the liquor burning down his throat.
Rude chuckled. "You're good at drinking."
Reno laughed through his nose. "Yeah, that too."
"And I'm a pretty simple guy. You think you might not know much about me, but really, there's not much more to know. And you know more than anyone else."
Reno leaned back on his arms, handing off the bottle. He felt warmth seeping into his legs like it did whenever he was getting tipsy. "I guess we all have secrets we don't wanna share," he said quietly, making Rude wonder what secrets Reno didn't feel like telling. Then Reno smiled. "For someone so quiet, you always know how to make me feel better, partner," he said with a little laugh. "How do you do that?"
Rude looked at him, his dark eyes traveling the lanky body of the younger Turk. When he got to Reno's delicate-boned face, the thin, soft-looking lips and the high cheekbones slashed with red, he remembered he'd taken off his shades and looked away before Reno could comment on his staring. He shrugged.
"Time and practice, I guess."
Reno took the bottle again, tipping it back. Rude watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed several times. He really was good at drinking. If Rude had tried to chug straight vodka, he'd have puked. Reno's hand as he gave the bottle to Rude again was the slightest bit unsteady, betraying his tipsiness.
"How's your back?" the redhead asked, his voice slurring a bit.
"Getting number," Rude answered, swigging more alcohol.
"Booze is good for that." Reno yawned widely, scooting up to stretch out on the bed. "Let's go out an' celebrate when ev'ryone's better," he murmured, closing his eyes.
Rude started to lean back himself, then remembered and twisted to lie on his stomach. He opened his mouth to tell Reno to go back to his own room, but what came out instead was, "I'd miss you, y'know."
"Hm?" Reno's voice was sleepy.
"If you blew your brains out. I'd miss you."
Reno gave a little sigh, then murmured, "Yeah. When I go, you'll be right there beside me. We'll go together."
They slept, pointedly (on Rude's part, at least) not touching, but each taking comfort from the other's presence.