Reno was sitting in his room, thinking about all that happened, his shirt was left aside, the black leather coach and that so white body sitting on it. A cut of light coming between curtains stopped on his face, his turquoise eyes were almost glowing. Reno passed fingers through his hair, considering something.
At some point every single human being starts asking questions about right or wrong, creation and existence. Why him, why there, what if. Genesis was somewhere out there, maybe not at his full power, but Shinra saw him die a few times and still after all these years he returned, ready for a payback. Old sins they die hard. Maybe Cloud was right not being ok with putting his friends in battle again. Reno knew why he was afraid and didn't blame him.
Red haired rested his head on the back of the coach and his sight reached the ceiling, seeking something beyond. He didn't want to see Rude, Rufus or Elena dead, like Akane died. But if he was about to stop now, all of his previous wins, her sacrifice, would be for nothing.
Not that Reno ever considered it as an option, his place was here, always would be. At least he never had a doubt about that.
He leaned over and lay down. He said all that to make Rude get off his back, but it was true, none of them had a family, not him, Rufus, Rude… They all were married for their job. Reno could get anywhere, buy any place, money they paid him would be enough for any good place in the city. He was living here like a leasehold. Maybe things were about to change, maybe he had to change them.
He needed a break from his own life, but it never was the moment.
Red haired rested head at the back of the seat, light dropped on his neck instead, there was a hardly noticeable scar from the last battle, them Turks were lucky they could heal faster. All the Shinra members. The entire world looked at them with accusation and envy, they hold power not everyone could handle, also responsibility. Reno hardly wanted to bring his mind to the things their bosses used to do to people just a few years ago.
His phone alarmed he had a new message, he got it and unlocked the display with the logo of Shinra, it was Elena, saying:
Hi Reno, tomorrow we are making a little party for Tseng, you should come, you loved those parties back then. I'm sending you the location, 8pm.
Party. Another one. If he was a normal man he would lose his liver by now.
Red haired slowly got up and went to the window, he could see part of the alley down there, part of block 2 of the building, city at the horizon, the dying sun. Nothing happened, no monster appeared on his window, not even a pigeon, they used to stay under the roof and one even got into his room one night and scared the shit out of him.
Reno got himself a bottle of cold beer from the minibar and sat on the window, laying his back on the frame and placing his foot on the opposite side. Today was one of the days he remembered her, the first mission together, the accident, the night she appeared here to apologize. The day she died.
He drank again and tried to think about something else.
"Whatever. Party it is."
I'm in, he texted back and went to bed.
The next day shift was as usual, no surprises, patrolling on foot and sending diagnostics to the base.
"You coming to the party?" Rude was resting back on the wall and was about to check the perimeter in a couple of minutes again.
"What's with this party?' Reno got impatient. "Why it's so important?
"Tseng is one of us, the very first Turk to have a family and life outside Shinra, if we don't count the former."
"I get it, just…Do I have a choice?"
Rude smirk.
Tonight they chose a small private club, all the Turks were there, Tseng too, also a few close friends of his.
"Guys, you are late!" Elena came to welcome them. "And in uniforms, this is a party!"
"Some people here are actually working" Rude jokes.
Elena was wearing a simple black dress, Tseng was in jeans and shirt, for a change, even his friends: two guys and one girl were dressed for a party.
"Congratulations again" Elena was just saying.
Place was separated into different rooms, nobody coming in theirs. There was music playing, a few modern couches, drinks on the table, some snacks for the guests…
"Hey, man, glad to see you are alive" Rude jokes. "Had any sleep lately?
"Two hours last week" he answered the joke and people started laughing.
"How you name her?"
"Mei An. Lin insisted the name be of two parts…"
Reno left his jacket on the back of the seat and got himself a drink.
A few jokes passed, some more information about the baby that passed by his ears. Other people he didn't remember their names were dancing, Rude was with his serious face again, talking with Elena, but obviously having fun.
"Hey, how are you doing, you want to dance?"
Reno raised his eyes from his drink. It was the girl, Tseng's friend.
"I'm Narumi" she introduced herself again.
"Reno."
She was shorter than him, cute, with curly brown hair and hazel eyes.
"Are you from the Turks? Is it true you fly your own helicopters?"
"They are from the company, none of us have a helicopter."
"But you fly them?"
"That's my job." Reno raised his glass.
"So cool! I like your hair, by the way."
"I like it too." Reno tousled his hair.
"Do all Turks have such amazing eyes? Is that because of that alien experiment? Can you see in the dark?"
"Dear lord, do you ever stop talking?" his ears start hurting. He rose from his place and went outside, room has its own balcony where guests could smoke, talk on phone or get alone for a while.
"Hey, brother" one of the guys came out in a few minutes. "You met Narumi, huh?"
He was staring at the wall of the next building, cars passing by a few floors below them.
"She asked you for a trip inside Shinra building yet?"
"Didn't have the pleasure."
Other man laughed.
"It's like this all the time when she meets new people."
"Interesting."
"Hey, you here, guys?" Elena also came out, she was wearing Rude's jacket on her shoulders. "Having fun?"
"Absolutely" Reno raised his glass. "Rufus would be so happy to know all of his people are unavailable tomorrow because of a hangover."
She laughed and got back inside.
"You ever heard a true friend never leave his pal to do stupid things alone?" Rude came out this time and was unusually happy. "I need you, come on, you'd love this."
"So, what is it that you can't do without me?" Reno came back inside, hoping that chick won't stick to him immediately.
"This is a game" Rude was explaining. "Of precise shooting. You need to get the target."
Reno didn't look impressed.
"After you drink. One shot, one shoot."
"You gotta be kidding me."
Rude left two paper targets on the bar table and aimed. One of one.
"Hey, guys, come on, you can't shoot here." Tseng scolded them.
Reno prepared his gun and got the target even without aiming.
"What are those two doing now?" Elena was speaking with the girl.
"Drink" Rude reminded him and raised his weapon again.
"They will throw us away, what are you doing?"
Reno got his shot and took down the second target.
"I can do that all night, not a challenge at all."
At some point the bullet ricocheted and left a mark on the wall.
"I can't believe it" Elena was hiding her face, the new girl and her friends obviously enjoying it. "Would you allow that?" she asked Tseng, who looked not amused at all.
"It was your idea, you expected something different? This is Reno and Rude after all…" he was interrupted by Rude, who smashed his glass on the ground after the countless perfect shot.
"My idea was to distract them from… Boys, come on!" she raised her hands.
"You will beg me to give you some time to catch up" Reno shot at both targets and inhaled the imaginable smoke of his gun. "Oh yeah!"
"I think I'm in love" Narumi was saying, staring at red haired.
At some point the manager came and threw them away, they were too drunk to care, and too heavily armed to get anything more than a "don't come here again" warning.
"Can't believe it" Elena was still wearing Rude's jacket and walking with Tseng, Reno and Rude stumbling a few steps ahead, Rude was holding his bottle and humming some melody that was terribly reminiscent of the Chocobo song. Narumi couldn't stop talking about how in love she was, other guys split at some point.
"You can't believe it?" Tseng repeated. "Since when exactly did you know them, so you are surprised now? As I think" he smirked "I expected them to blow the entire place away."
"Reno is not himself after she died" Elena said quietly while they both were already singing I want to ride my chocobo all day. "That copy attacked him, then Genesis appeared, they told us he was dead in the hospital, you should see Rude's face, he was done. They are like…"
"…Twins." He finished. "Like twins. Like a spirit haunting two bodies."
"Yes." Elena nodded. "You think they will be fine?"
"This is Reno and Rude, they are always fine. You drop a chopper on their head, they don't have a scratch. I'll get you a taxi, go home, and pretend that was the idea."
"Greet Lin from me."
"You don't know how far I can throw, I beat you tonight, I'll beat you in this too!" Reno was pointing somewhere in front of them.
"You beat me, bullshit, I let you win. Admit it!"
"Through my dead body!"
"As I think" Tseng said to himself "I'd better call a taxi for myself too!"