Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Now and then, Cloud still saw them.

Usually in dreams, somewhere between REM and deep sleep, he’d hit pockets of memories- battles, and old conversations, a little dim, a little grainy, a little distorted. Past events, three years ago, one year ago. He didn’t always remember the dreams, not when they were just glimpses, shadows at the edges of his vision, a flicker of black and grey on the periphery, sometimes a flash of bright, mako green.

But once in awhile a dream would remain, stick around for a day or so, fogging up his brain and leaving him edgy, a little wary, a little unsure what he’d see if he looked over his shoulder.

No one else remembered like this. No one else still worried about them.

Worse was the waking dreams, the day when he’d meet one of them in the flesh, but not quite!- a passerby, eyes a little too green, a glint of silver in the sun, sometimes just a black leather jacket or the sound of a pair of boots on the pavement- real normal things, real everyday things, nothing he should have taken notice of- but they’d just set him off, leave him with gritted teeth and staring eyes, and clenched fists, nails digging into his palms.

He didn’t tell anyone about it. He had tried, once, to explain to Tifa the fear, the nightmares, the daytime paranoia. She was as understanding as ever, but that didn’t mean that she understood. Her rallying of the gang didn’t help matters for him, that time- being surrounded by Avalanche members who believed this paranoid delusions of leftover remnants to be real was probably the last thing he’d needed, but he couldn’t tell her that.

So he kept it to himself, buried the fear and anxiety, the post-traumatic near-constant agonizing worry, and clammed up again. Tifa noticed, and pried, but his excuses kept her at bay.

Anyway.

A year came and went pretty fast, once you looked back at it. No one really talked about what had happened in Edge a year before; they rebuilt quietly, efficiently, buildings rising out of rubble like staggering zombies, righting themselves at the edges of their graves. And after a year, people were relaxing again. Music played at night, from somewhere twinkling and far away, people stayed out late, and kids ran around the city in packs, playing and laughing and forgetting.

A whole year, give or take a little.

Marlene and Denzel were growing up fast under their care. Their birthdays were a couple of weeks apart, but the two of them had made the very adult decision to have a joint birthday party. As expected, everyone was invited. Turks included, though whether that was out of some kind of abstract camaraderie or sheer politeness remained to be seen. Tseng graciously declined his invitation, citing his and Elena’s business trip that weekend. (As such, she was also unable to come.) That left Reno and Rude to attend what Reno could only hope would be the drinking kind of party.

Ask and ye shall receive.

The party began at around six, with an influx of many grungy, sticky children underfoot, as well as the arrival of the Turks and Avalanche. No one wanted to miss a chance to catch up; even Vincent Valentine, the absolute last person to be found at a children’s birthday party, was there. Tifa strapped a paper party hat onto his head the second he sat down and Yuffie blew a noisemaker in his ear. The guy looked ready to die.

Reno surveyed Seventh Heaven as he and Rude entered, taking in the neon bright party decor of streamers and dangling honeycomb balls. Someone had tacked up a pin the tail on the chocobo game at the other end of the bar. Children scampered about underfoot, chasing each other and batting at low-hanging decorations in delight.

The bar was closed for the party tonight, but it was almost as busy as any other night. Reno squeezed his way past Barret Wallace to get to the bartop and hopped up onto a stool.

“Are you serving tonight?” he asked Tifa cheerfully. She turned her head to smile at him and grabbed a beer from under the counter, prying the cap off before setting it on the shiny bartop.

“Of course I am,” she said. “It is a party! Hey, Rude.”

The other Turk nodded at her, keeping his sunglasses on despite the somewhat dim lighting in the bar. He took the beer Tifa offered him and clinked it against Reno’s, and then they both drank.

“How’s work?” Tifa asked, half-shouting over the kid’s music and the din of many voices as she made her way around to their side of the bar. Reno “hm”d and Rude shrugged.

“It’s alright. Getting there.”

“Kidnapped anyone good recently?” Cid Highwind joked loudly over his shoulder at them, a little dryly. Reno grinned, lowered and shook his head.

“Nope, no kidnappings.”

“We’re staying out of trouble,” Rude said seriously. Tifa and Reno laughed, and then she politely pulled the redhead away to talk to him.

“Reno, can you do me a favor?”

He had a bad feeling about this immediately. “Hey, come on, I can’t be running favors for eco-terrorists-”

“It’s nothing big. I just need someone to talk to Cloud.”

Cloud? Reno looked around, spotting the blond alone at a booth in the corner. “What’s his deal?”

“I don’t know. That’s the problem- he won’t talk to me. I’m worried.” She looked it. “Can you just try to chat with him? Even if you can’t get anything out of him- if he’ll just act like himself again…”

I thought he was acting like himself, Reno almost joked, but he swallowed the comment and gave her a grin. “Of course. You can count on me.”

“Don’t get cocky. Vincent and Barret have already failed.”

How very reassuring of her. Reno sighed as Tifa stepped away to talk to Rude again. He stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets and strolled over to the corner of the bar, plopping into the booth seat across from Cloud.

“Hey there, Spikey,” he started. Cloud didn’t quite look up from the tabletop. And he’d been so sure a nickname would at least drag a scowl out of the guy! “Alright, not in the talking mood, that’s fine. I’ll talk for both of us. You know I will, yo.”

Cloud’s mouth sort of twitched.

“Hey, I saw that. I know you’re in there.”

“What do you want, Reno.”

“Hey, I don’t want anything. Tifa asked me to chat you up, so here I am.” He clasped his hands behind his head and leaned back into the makeshift rest, one leg over the other under the booth. “So, what’s got you down?”

“Nothing. It’s not important.”

“Wow. And here I thought Cloud Strife wouldn’t miss his kids’ birthday party for anything less than “mega important.””

Cloud lifted his head, leveling his sky-blue gaze at the Turk. He opened his mouth and shut it again. “It’s… not something I can tell the others.”

Concerning, to say the least. “Did something happen?”

“Kind of- no, not really. Nothing.”

He hadn’t seen Cloud so cagey in a long time. He knew the guy suffered a lot- depression, PTSD, that kind of stuff wasn’t easy to deal with- but this kind of attitude was right up there with…

Well, it was starting to feel a little like a year ago.

Reno started at him, silent, thinking, but listening. Working with captives had taught him a few things: if someone only partially answered your question, wait. The silence will prompt them to say more on their own, in a way that prying won’t.

“I saw him,” Cloud murmured. Reno frowned, raised an eyebrow.

“Saw who?”

Cloud paused again. Reno almost regretted the question; he might have answered on his own without a prompt, but now-

“Reno. You can’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you.”

“Oh, shit, okay.”

Cloud inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. “I saw a remnant. Earlier today.”

Reno’s knee hit the table and it jumped, clattering loudly on the floor. The chatter of conversations in the bar halted as everyone turned to glance at him, then resumed. Reno stared at Cloud, hands dropped to the tabletop, mouth hanging slightly open.

“You- you saw-?!”

“You can’t tell anyone, because it’s not true.”

“What?! So you’ve just gone full-blown crazy now, or what?”

“Look, I… I don’t know what it is. I just keep seeing them, everywhere I go- it was getting a lot better for a while, but then today… I swear, I saw his eyes.”

Okay. So either Cloud was nuts, or those monsters had dragged themselves back from the grave. “So which is it? Did you really see one, or not?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I can’t tell anyone.”

“Because..?”

“They’ll panic. All of Edge would panic.”

“You- you have to do something, Strife!” Reno lowered his voice to a whisper. “If Kadaj is back, you’re the only one who can take him out! Why aren’t you-”

“We don’t know if it’s real or not,” Cloud reminded him.

“...Right,” Reno murmured. His heart was pounding, even as he sat still and silent at the booth.

“You could help me,” Cloud said after a long moment of silence. “You can be my eyes. I can’t tell what’s real anymore- if I’m seeing them for real, or if I’m just imagining it. I’m not sleeping.”

“No kidding,” Reno said, glancing at his eye bags.

“But you- you’re not a part of this. You wouldn’t be affected- you could tell me if it’s real or not.”

“And no one else can do it because…”

“No one else has the presence of mind to doubt me. To question what I’m seeing. And the other Turks- they’ll act too hastily. It’s gotta be you.”

“We’re bringing out the cake!” Tifa called from the other end of the room, and everyone cheered. Cloud moved to stand as the birthday song started up.

“Can I think about it?” Reno asked.

“What’s there to think about? Do you want to help me or not?”

Reno remained sitting, staring at the wall behind where Cloud had been seated. Of course he wanted to help, it was just… Like, fuck, what if those freaks were back? Walking around in broad daylight, mingling with society- what if one of them had slipped through the cracks and stuck around in Edge? What was he supposed to do if he ran into one of them while he was alone? Go hand-to-hand with a remnant of Sephiroth? Reno didn’t have a horse in this race.

But here he was, running the track.

“Reno,” Rude said, having snuck up on him. “There’s cake.”

“Yeah,” Reno mumbled. “I gotta go.”

“Are you sure you can’t stay?” Tifa asked him at the door. “You haven’t even had any cake yet…”

She was trying to be nice. She was being nice- it was hard to think of them as anything other than enemies still, sometimes- Avalanche and good ol’ Shin-Ra, good and evil, light and dark- but she was being genuinely kind to him. Offering him triple chocolate birthday cake.

God. Cloud did not fucking deserve her.

“Yeah, I... ‘ve got somewhere to be. Sorry.” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, fiddling with his ponytail, thumb and forefinger picking at the elastic. Tifa smiled a little too sympathetically, like, “sorry that talking to Cloud ruined your day, have a nice night!”

He didn’t quite run from Seventh Heaven after that, but he did walk pretty quickly for the next couple blocks, until he turned a corner- then settled into a more comfortable pace, a little slower. He patted his pockets to find his cigarettes, whipped the pack out with a flair and popped it open.

Empty. No, not quite, there was a note.

Hey, future Reno

Buy smokes.

You’re welcome,

Past Reno

That motherfucker. He crumpled the note in his hand, then the empty pack, and hucked both into the street. Hands stuffed into his jacket pockets, face set in a scowl, he picked up the pace again, heading across the street towards a 24-hr convenience store he’d noticed the last time he’d been this way. The sign was lit up in all blue and red.

24 HOUR STORE! ALWAYS OPEN!

Storming through the front door, and hoping he looked as grouchy as he felt, Reno stomped up to the counter- had there been another customer waiting, he might have had to shove them out of the way to get to the front. Luckily, the place was entirely devoid of life, save for the old hot dogs rolling down the grill, and the oscillating fan blowing cool, dusty air across the store.

Reno paused at the counter, looking around a bit more. There really was no one here. There weren’t even any security cameras that he could see- if he wanted to, he could just step behind the counter and take a pack of Gaia’s Golds and be on his way, without the hassle of waiting for a cranky shopkeep.

Sigh. No, he wasn’t going to do that.

“Hello?” he called, leaning over the counter to catch a glimpse of the dingy carpeting on the other side of the raised platform. “Yo, anyone here? I just wanna buy some-”

A person stepped around the corner, and Reno froze. His heart stopped. His stomach flopped. Everything was on pause, and going way too fast at the same time.

There wasn’t even anything particularly remnant-y about the guy, nothing that should have set Reno off- but he remembered the face well: bored, non-emotive. Hair worn long and silky around his shoulders- dyed a flat black now, but probably untrimmed; hard to tell with it pulled up in a ponytail. Green eyes- not as green as they used to be, no, something had changed there; pale skin, a little dull now, but smooth like marble, probably just as cold- Reno took it in as fast as he could, every detail, everything that had changed in a year.

“You,” Reno said, very softly. The slender, wispy remnant started back at him, completely disinterested, looking entirely too human in his black polo shirt and dark, fitted jeans.

Time began to flow again; movement resumed. Reno waited and waited for a glimmer of something in the remnant’s eyes- recognition, surprise!, fear, maybe?

Nothing.

“What can I get for you?” the monster asked, sounding very bored and very fake-polite.

“It- it’s you!” Reno tried again, slamming his hands on the counter. “How the hell did you survive?”

A pause. The Sephiroth look-alike raised an eyebrow, then put it back down.

“I think you have me mistaken for someone else,” the remnant said, sounding no more guarded than before. Like he was serious.

Like he really wasn’t a remnant.

Like maybe Cloud’s little condition was contagious, and talking to him had planted ideas in his head.

Bullshit!

They both moved at the same time- Reno lunged over the counter to grab him, and the remnant grabbed a bat from underneath it. He swung for Reno’s head immediately, so the redhead felt no remorse in kicking him square in the spleen, making him stumble back a couple of steps. He wished he had his electro-mag rod, but he and Rude had gone to the party unarmed- stupid, stupid!- and yet, the remnant had failed to block him. It was like the guy was weaker, somehow. Slower. Just overall less skilled.

It was totally possible that he was just a convenience store clerk.

The remnant swung for him again and Reno met him halfway, yanking the bat out of his hands and turning it on its master. He was still trying to remember the middle brother’s face completely. It had been a full year. The remnant lunged forward, and Reno stepped up, swung, and hit him in the abdomen again, taking him to his knees. Reno grinned, victorious.

“Right, so here’s how this is going to go down,” Reno said, thinking it up on the spot. “First of all- I’m taking these.” He reached over and grabbed a pack of Gaia Golds from its slot behind the counter and stuffed them in his pocket, bat slung over his right shoulder. “You’re going to get up, nice and slow, understand? Do-you-understand?” Again, slower. The remnant glared up at him from behind his black bangs. “We’re going to walk down to Seventh Heaven, and you’re going to turn yourself in.”

“I’m not hurting anyone,” the middle brother said, voice strained. Yazoo. Reno finally remembered his name.

“I think you’ve hurt enough people in the past to justify this.”

“How am I supposed to atone for that?” His voice was thick with pain, eyes narrow and dark. Reno gaped at him slightly. He’d said something similar, once- no. Not the time to make comparisons between himself and monsters. He sucked in a dry laugh.

“Guess you’re just gonna have to suck it up and die, then. Get up.”

Yazoo stood slowly. The two of them maintained perfect eye contact as he straightened up, glaring at each other. Reno couldn’t help but sneer a bit. All that suffering Cloud had gone through, and he’d caught the monster within ten minutes.

Reno backed up, out from behind the counter, and Yazoo followed. It was only once they were out in the front of the store that the remnant made his move, which Reno had been expecting. He just hadn’t anticipated such a low blow. Yazoo’s boot collided with his groin, hard, and Reno dropped the bat, falling to his knees. The weapon clanged to the linoleum floor and stayed there.

It took Reno a few seconds to regain his composure and resume breathing. He staggered back to his feet and took off out the door, after the remnant. He skidded to a halt in front of the convenience store, looking left, then right.

No sign of him. It was like he’d just disappeared.

He really needed a smoke now.

He walked back towards Seventh Heaven, puffing on his cigarette. Rude stood outside the bar, as if he were waiting for him.

“Did you come back for cake,” Rude asked.

“Yeah, sorta.” Reno took a good, long drag from the cigarette before putting it out, stomping it under his shoe.

“Something happen?”

Reno opened his mouth, then paused. Letting a surviving remnant slip away so carelessly… That was just. Negligent. Cloud would kill him. These were the kind of mistakes that got people killed.

Better to deal with the problem himself. No one else had to know.

“Not a damn thing,” Reno said, lighting up again.

He canvassed the area that night, returning to the convenience store twice. The same hot dogs were still on the grill the third time around, but a new cashier had taken Yazoo’s place.

First things first, he learned that the remnant was going by Yuusa. Clever. Second, his address was listed a couple miles away- totally abandoned, untouched for months. And third, he usually worked the night shift, but had swapped with Chad for the day. “But, uh, I don’t like, know him very well,” Chad said, as Reno turned and left the store.

He wandered for most of the night, checking alleys and dumpsters, peeking into dark buildings for signs of life. He came up empty handed.

Well, if the remnant was smart, he’d be out of town by now. Disappear without a trace, go live out in the sticks somewhere with a couple of goats, survive off the land. That actually sounded kind of nice.

Reno headed home late, and let himself into the apartment. It had been bright when he’d left it in the morning,  but now not even the starlight made it through his windows. Depressing.

He made his way in the dark to his bedroom and took his suit off, falling undressed onto the bed. After all that, to come up with nothing… It sucked. No one else knew it, but it sucked. He sighed, reaching in the dark for the top sheet, and dragged it halfheartedly over himself to sleep. At least he couldn’t fuck up his dreams.

Reno sighed, and tried to sleep. He could only see eyes, too bright, with thin black cuts through the irises.

Chapter Text

Hypervigilance came with the territory. It was a common symptom, Cloud knew, but that didn’t make him any less frustrated with himself. Knowing didn’t fix things. It didn’t make him any less stressed.

“Hey, you wanna help clean up?” Tifa asked him at around ten p.m. Cloud shook the fog from his mind and nodded, standing and taking the offered broom. If he couldn’t be useful in some other way, saving the world or something, he could at least help Tifa. He started in the corner, sweeping up remnants of streamers and popped balloons. Tifa cleaned up the bar; the AVALANCHE members who had stuck around to help out busied themselves with their tasks. Vincent, seated in the far booth with a party hat on his head and a noisemaker in his mouth, appeared to be dozing. The noisemaker squeaked occasionally on his exhale.

Despite it all, Cloud smiled. These were the moments he needed to live in, the time he had with his family and friends. Not the past, not a year ago, not the time before that. Telling Reno about his hallucinations in the first place had been a mistake, just more salt in the wound. He should have kept it to himself and moved on.

Well, he could tell Reno to quit looking tomorrow. Right now, his family needed help. Cloud stuck the broom under the second booth from the corner, and hit something solid. It squeaked.

“Marlene,” he sighed, and she poked her head out, pouting up at him. “What are you doing?”

“I don’t wanna go to bed, Cloud,” she whimpered. “If I go to bed, it’s not my birthday anymore.”

“I’m pretty sure it ends at midnight anyway,” Cloud said, holding a hand out to her. Marlene crawled out, frowning. “There’ll be other birthdays.”

“I wish it was my birthday every day,” Marlene sighed, clinging to his side. 

“If it was your birthday everyday, it wouldn’t feel special. Go head upstairs.”

She scampered away, flinging her arms around Tifa’s middle in a hug, then ran up the stairs. Cloud watched her go, smiling to himself.

“Someone’s in a better mood,” Tifa said to him later, as they were gathering up the garbage to take it outside.

“Yeah,” Cloud said, hefting two full bags onto his shoulders. He really was. “I guess I just needed someone to get some stuff off my chest.”

“So it’s a good thing we invited Reno,” Tifa said, smug.

“If you wanna call it that, yeah.”

“I do,” Tifa said, catching him by the back of his shirt and pulling him back around into a kiss.

He slept well that night: no nightmares, no anxiety in the morning. It was like the storm had passed, leaving him refreshed and ready for a new day.

Reno woke up feeling like hell.

He hadn’t had that much to drink the day before, and even if he had, he wasn’t really a big bad hangover kind of guy. He got up slowly, scratching his head and stroked fingers through his messy hair and tried to figure out why he felt so weird.

Oh, right. Yazoo.

Somehow he’d forgotten about the second half of the day, spent chasing after shadows and glimmers of green, searching high and low for the remnant. In the end, he hadn’t told anyone else about the encounter, keeping it secret lest Cloud, or (please no) Tseng, found out and kicked his ass. The last thing he needed was for one of them to come after him.

Shuffling into the bathroom, he turned the shower on and waited a minute for the hot water to kick on. He climbed into the shower as steam began to fill the room, wetting his hair down and scrubbing it clean.

When he stepped out a while later, his phone was ringing across the apartment. Reno swore, snatching his towel off the rack on the wall and barrelling down the hallway back to his room. He threw himself, naked and dripping onto the bed, flinging clothes and bedsheets and pillows aside until he found the ringing phone.

“Hello?!”

“Hey, Reno.”

Cloud. “Hey,” Reno choked, grabbing his towel again and dabbing his face dry. “What’s up?”

“I’m calling off the search. You don’t need to look for them anymore.”

“What?” Seriously, what? Cloud really had lost it now. “Why?”

“They’re not out there, Reno. They’re dead. I might struggle with that, but I don’t need you hunting for them to satisfy me.”

But I saw one! He kicked me in the balls, yo!

“Okay,” Reno said, slowly. “But the thing is--”

“I have to go, but thanks anyway.”

“Wait, hold on a sec, yo!”

“See you.”

“Cloud!” Reno yelled at his phone as the line went dead.  He groaned, tossing the phone aside, and fell back on his bed in defeat. Not twenty seconds later, it rang again, and he scrambled to pick it up right away.

“Cloud!”

“It’s Rude.”

“Oh,” Reno said, unable to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

“You were expecting Cloud Strife?”

“No, it’s nothing. What’s up?”

“Are you coming into work or not?”

“Work? What time is it?”

Rude sighed. Reno could almost hear him rubbing the bridge of his nose, sunglasses pushed up to his forehead.

“I mean, yeah! I’m on my way, don’t sweat it!” Reno hit “end call” before Rude could say anything else and jumped up, drying and dressing himself in record time. He grabbed his phone, smokes, and keys, slipped his shoes on, and ran out the door. 

He doubled back for his electro-mag rod, then took off again.

“You’re late,” Tseng informed him when he caught up with them. They hadn’t waited for his arrival at all. Reno put up a finger and Tseng paused, letting him catch his breath.

“First of all--I know, yo! Second--”

“We don’t have time for this,” Tseng cut him off. “Let’s go.” Reno gave him an overly-serious salute, back straight and heels together, then stuffed his hands in his pockets and followed the other turks. 

It was a good thing Cloud had come out of his haze when he did, Tifa thought, as she saw him off on a delivery. But still…

No, it wasn’t like she was upset he’d snapped out of it, but for him to be magically feeling better after talking to Reno was really weird. Since when was Reno a problem solver? What exactly had he said to Cloud?

She was unbearably curious.

Cloud wasn’t the type to open up about… most things, so while she’d tried to coax him to tell her what had been bothering him, he’d pretended to be too busy to hear her. So he didn’t want her to know--what else was new? 

Regardless, he’d had her worried for the past year or so. At this point, Tifa felt like she had some right to know what had been going on, whether it was important anymore or not. And if she couldn’t get any info from Cloud, then she’d go to the second best source.

While chances weren’t exactly great that Cloud had told Reno exactly what was happening, she could at least wring from him what he’d said to help Cloud out of his funk--and, she rationalized, she might need to know for the next time he fell into a depression.

“Am I nosy?” she asked her reflection, pausing in wiping the bar window. Reflection Tifa didn’t answer.

Well, whatever. She could worry about that later. What mattered now was the flow of information.

She headed upstairs for the phone, then dug through a stack of business cards--mostly torn scraps of paper, actually--for Reno’s number.

“Hey, remember me, yo?” she teased when he picked up. 

“Huuuh… I’m not so sure,” Reno said, but there was a smile in his voice. “What’s up?”

“Are you finished with work? You and Rude should come have a drink.”

“You just can’t resist us, can you? Man…” Reno paused, and Tifa heard someone in the background asking him something. “It’s kind of far, but I guess we could come by. Cloud there?”

“No, he’s on a delivery.”

“What, you’re having us over without your bodyguard?”

“Like I need a bodyguard around you ,” Tifa laughed. Reno chuckled on the other side.

“Okay, give us a while. Someone’s running late here.”

“See you in a bit, then,” Tifa said. They hung up together, and she headed back downstairs. Marlene was with her dad for the week, and Denzel had been invited to go with her, which meant she had the bar to herself until opening time.

She leaned against the counter and waited.

“Don’t tell me you closed the bar on our account, yo,” Reno said, poking his head in the door. Tifa straightened up, smiling at him.

“Nope, it’s just slow tonight. Come on in.”

The Turks entered, and Rude closed the door behind himself. He joined Reno at the bar, sitting on his right.

“So?” Reno asked, “what’s the deal? You invited us here. What do you want?”

Tifa smiled at him, grip tightening on her bar rag. “What, I can’t have some friends over for drinks?”

“That’s highly suspicious behavior, yo.”

“Reno,” Rude said, fingers interlaced in front of him. “Shut up.”

“You should really listen to him,” Tifa said, setting two glasses on the counter. Reno picked up the offered drink, then paused.

“You’re not going to have any?”

“Seriously,” Rude sighed, glaring at him.

“It’s weird!”

“I still have to run the bar,” Tifa reminded him. Reno pondered that a moment, then settled into his seat and drank.

And drank.

It was like all the stress, the weight Cloud had been carrying for the past year had been transferred to Reno’s shoulders. He slumped as he drank, coming closer and closer to the surface of the bar, until he was resting just his chin on it. Tifa poured him another drink as Rude excused himself to use the bathroom.

“So, Reno,” Tifa said, as soon as Rude was out of earshot, “I have a question for you.”

“Sure you do, yo,” Reno sighed. “Everyone wants something from Reno.”

Tifa rested her elbows on the bar, bringing herself down to his level. “Can you tell me what you and Cloud talked about last night? Just between you and me.”

Reno barked out a laugh, lifting his head. “If I told you what was goin’ on with that guy, you wouldn’t believe it, yo.”

“Try me,” Tifa said. Reno opened his eyes to look at her and blanched. “What?”

“You--nevermind. You just reminded me of someone.” Reno pushed himself off the counter and stood, staggering. “Anyway, I’m not telling you anything, yo. Ask blondie if you wanna know.” He paused, opening his mouth as if to say something else, then shook his head to perish the thought.

Tifa sighed, watching him fumble with the doorknob and let himself out. 

Rude returned to find Reno had left without him. Normally that wouldn’t be an issue; they weren’t attached at the hip, they didn’t have to go back together, but Reno had been halfway-sloshed when he’d gone to the bathroom, and even halfway-sloshed Reno wasn’t exactly a good thing to unleash on Edge.

Rude bid Tifa goodnight, waiting until he was outside of the bar to lift up his sunglasses and look around a bit. He couldn’t exactly see any footprints in low lighting and in the city, but there were signs that Reno had already passed through the area: a knocked over trash can, a torn open bag where he must have staggered and kicked it, and a crushed can further down the road, towards the corner. Rude sighed and followed.

He found Reno soon enough, surprisingly not causing any trouble. Just standing outside the 24 Hour Store, sneering at the neon sign as it crackled and glowed in the dark.

“Reno,” Rude called as he approached. The redhead didn’t quite answer, but clicked his tongue a bit.

“What’s your problem?” he tried, as he got nearer. Reno shook his head, eyes never leaving the neon.

“Man, you don’t wanna know.”

“Trouble with women,” Rude surmised. Reno barked out a laugh and dug in his pocket for his Gaia Golds. 

Rude watched in silence as his partner lit up, inhaling deeply and coughing on the exhale. He wasn’t terribly curious; sure, Reno was a little off tonight, but that was no reason to get nosy. Rude turned away, looking back down the street as a couple of noisy travellers made their way towards the store.

“Do you need something from inside?” Rude asked, turning back to the redhead. Reno sighed and shrugged.

“I’m not goin’ in there tonight, yo.”

“Okay.”

“You wanna know why, Rude?”

“Not really.”

“That’s why I like you, man.”

Rude managed to drag Reno away with some mild coaxing, and the two of them returned to the latter’s apartment. He hung out for a while, sharing a few beers from the fridge, then said his farewells at around midnight and headed home. It was time for the night to end.

A week passed unnoticed before Reno saw him again. Yazoo. He was actually on his way back in from work late that night, passing through sector… Well, there weren’t any sectors anymore, but it was so easy still to think of Edge like that--anyway, he was near Seventh Heaven, on his way home, passing by the 24-hour convenience store, when he was hit by a hankering for something bad for him. Cigarettes, probably.

A tinny sounding bell rang over the door as he stepped inside, surveying the place. Empty as ever, devoid of movement. No hotdogs on the grill this time. Just the sound of the lights straining to keep the place alive, and the cooler fans running in the distance.

He stepped up to the counter, feeling vaguely like he was experiencing some kind of deja-vu, and waited. Nobody emerged from the back. It was like whoever was scheduled had completely abandoned their post. Reno sighed, passing the counter, having made the decision to look around. 

Half the junk food in the joint was more than a month past its expiration date, he found after examining some of it. It was also dusty; he had to brush some of the filth of with his fingertips to get to the expiry numbers, though the layer of dust was probably just as good an indicator of whether or not the food was any good. He didn’t want to know how expired the milk in the cooler was, so he didn’t look, but he did grab a six pack (tepid, the cooler fans were apparently only half-efficient) and a bag of chips (chips don’t expire, baby!) and headed back to the counter. 

“Helloooo,” he called, getting impatient. Fuck’s sake, he wasn’t going to wait forever. Reno left his stuff at the counter and stepped around it, heading into the back of the store. There was very little of interest back there (cleaning supplies mostly, unused mostly) and a lot of posted signs about workplace hazards. They had an old-fashioned time clock system. So old-fashioned, in fact, they appeared to just be writing down the times that they came and went from work. There was one person on the clock right now, according to the single piece of cardstock in the “IN” box stapled to the wall. Reno plucked the paper out and peered at it. Yuusa…

He didn’t so much hear or see Yazoo in the doorway as he suddenly just sensed him there. Reno looked over, still holding onto the timecard, to see the raven-haired remnant standing there, a roll of trash bags in one hand, a decrepit broom in the other. So he’d been doing maintenance outside.

No, wait: so he was still here.

“You,” Reno said.

“Ah,” Yazoo said, and turned to flee.

“Oh, we are NOT doing this again,” Reno announced, taking off after him. Yazoo, who was still holding the broom, swung around with it to smack the end at Reno, but the cheap broom merely bent and ultimately failed to stop his advance. As a last ditch effort, he kicked for the groin again, but Reno grabbed his ankle before he connected, yanking him off his feet and onto his ass on the dirty tile floor.

“Why the hell would you come back here?” Reno snapped, not releasing his grip on the remnant’s ankle. “Are you that stupid? You thought I’d never come back looking for you?”

Yazoo was silent, staring up at him. 

“Well?!”

“I need this job.”

“What?!” Reno yelled, yanking on his ankle as the remnant tried to pull away.

“Nowhere else will hire me.”

Well, that made some modicum of sense--people didn’t trust strangers so much in Edge, and if nobody knew you, if nobody could speak for you, of course it would be impossible to find a job. That said:

“Why the fuck do you need a job, anyway? Jenova’s not paying you enough?” Yazoo’s lip curled at the mention of the calamity, and Reno took note. “Tough subject, huh? You don’t wanna think about how you kidnapped all those kids? Killed all those people for that thing?”

The remnant didn’t answer.

“You’re not getting away this time,” Reno said, popping the latch on his belt and grabbing his electro-mag rod. Yazoo eyed it warily, trying again to pull away. Reno raised the weapon and brought it down, but stopped himself just before contact. Rather, something else had stopped him, like the ghost of a hand on his, a soft touch that kept him from striking.

“Get going,” he said, releasing Yazoo’s ankle and kicking him in the leg. “Don’t let me catch you here again, idiot.”

“How very merciful of you,” Yazoo drawled, standing and pacing away from him. 

“Don’t make me reconsider.”

Yazoo looked him up and down, as if he were trying to decide if Reno was being serious or not, then turned and flung open the door, running off into the night again.

And that was the last Reno saw of him.

...or so he hoped.

Come morning, he found himself back in the Seventh Heaven area, and stepped in to check on things at the convenience store again. And there he was, punching buttons on the register.

“You don’t learn, do you?” Reno asked, letting the door swing shut behind him, hands in his pockets. “Man, I thought the big one was the stupid one, but you’re just as bad.”

“Can I help you with something,” Yazoo asked dryly, barely looking up from the old-fashioned till.

“Oh please, can you? Can you walk with me over to headquarters so I can turn your ass in, yo?!”

“Keep your voice down,” Yazoo snapped.

“What, you scared someone’s gonna learn that you’re a remnant of Sephiro--”

“Is something the matter, Yuusa?” a wavering voice called from around the corner. Out stepped a little old lady, in every sense of the phrase. She barely came up to Reno’s chest, and she was more wrinkly than a prune. She squinted up at him through thick, foggy lenses, blinking as he came into focus.

“Oh, a Shin-ra worker,” she said, voice wobbly and faint. “Yuusa, help this young man out.”

“Of course,” Yazoo said cheerfully, but his disposition changed the minute she was out of earshot again.

“Get out.”

“Why should I? As far as I’m concerned, that nice old lady should know what you are.”

“The old lady trusts me, turk. She’s not going to believe you over me.”

“I can name a few people who would believe me,” Reno shot back. Then he leaned back, suddenly aware of how close they’d leaned in together, how quietly they were both speaking. “Anyway, I’m taking you in.”

“I doubt that.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because you didn’t last night, when you should’ve,” Yazoo said, straightening up at his till. “For whatever reason, you don’t have it in you right now. You’re weak.”

Reno bit back a laugh. “You’re the one who’s weak, yo. Don’t project onto me.”

“Then why all the talk? Why not just kill me here?”

Reno wasn’t sure how to answer that. A silence stretched between the two of them.

“Gaia Golds,” Reno said finally.

“Fine.” Yazoo turned to grab a pack, and slammed it on the counter. Reno sneered at him as he dug out his wallet. Yazoo sneered back.

“What time are you off?” Reno asked.

“What does it matter to you?”

“I’m coming back. End of the day, you’re going to Shin-ra.”

Yazoo clicked his tongue and refused to speak any further. “I guess I’ll be back around noon, then,” Reno laughed, turning to leave the store. “Don’t try to run.”

“You look better,” Tifa called. Cloud lifted his head, looking back at her from his spot near the flowers.

“Yeah? I feel better,” Cloud said, sharing her smile. 

“Good,” Tifa said, coming over and crouching next to him. The flowers in the church seemed to shine, and to lean towards them, as if they were a part of the conversation too. 

It had been tough, coming back here and cleaning the place up. But worth it. The church meant too much to everyone to leave it in disarray. Still, Tifa had to work herself up to coming back, after the fight with the remnant. She still hurt in some spots, thinking about it.

“Where are Denzel and Marlene?” Cloud asked, and Tifa hummed.

“Off playing.”

“It’s good that they can do that now,” Cloud said softly. That was tough too, thinking about how all the kids had suffered. It was better now, now that they could run and play and be safe in Edge. Memories of the past may have lingered, but the present was better to live in.

“I thought I’d find you guys here,” a voice called from the church entrance. The two of them turned to look as Reno stepped into the church. “I haven’t been here in a while, yo.”

“You probably shouldn’t be here now,” Cloud said. Tifa hid a laugh.

“I know, I know, Shin-ra’s evil and Avalanche is good, I get it. That’s not why I’m here.” Reno stopped in the aisle, looking out at the carpet of flowers. “We should talk, Strife.”

Tifa perked up, curious. “In private, yo,” Reno tacked on.

“You can say it in front of Tifa,” Cloud said, as Tifa preened.

“I really can’t,” Reno laughed.

“Must not be that important then,” Cloud surmised, turning away again. “See you.”

“It’s serious, yo!” Reno insisted. “Look, you know that convenience store by Seventh Heaven?”

“Convenience store?”

“I think I know the one,” Tifa said, nodding.

“The clerk--”

“Reno,” Rude called from behind him. “We’re running behind. Let’s go.”

Reno cursed softly, stomping back over to his partner. “Fuck, fine, let’s go.”

“What about the clerk,” Cloud called after him.

“Later, yo!”

“Why are we stopping here,” Rude asked, watching Reno pace around in front of the door.  Reno shushed him, leaning close to peer through the glass at the inside.

“Let’s go,” Reno said, once he was sure there was nobody at the counter. He threw open the door and rushed in, mag rod at the ready. Rude followed, visibly confused.

“Reno,”

“Where is he,” Reno called to the clerk, a sleepy looking young woman, hair pulled into a low ponytail.

“Who?” Rude and the clerk asked at the same time. The cashier yawned then, and she raised a hand to cover her mouth.

“Ya-- Yuusa. Where’s he at.”

“Oh, you missed him,” the girl said, gesturing vaguely towards the door. “He left early.”

“Who’s Yuusa,” Rude asked, and Reno looked back at him, trying and failing to speak.

“He’s, ah…”

“He works tomorrow morning if you wanna come back,” the cashier yawned, leaning on the counter.

“Do you know where he went?” Reno asked, electro mag rod hanging loosely in his hand, arms like limp noodles at his sides.

“I dunno what he does when he’s off.”

“Reno,” Rude said, “we’re on the clock.”

“Look, I swear this is important,” Reno said, following Rude outside and back onto the street.

“How so.”

“It’s--I can’t really tell you until I find him, but it’s important!” Rude was totally silent in response. “I just have to track him down again, and then I’ll give you a call, yo--”

“You’re skipping out on work to find your friend?”

“Not my friend, but you’ve got the right idea.”

“Reno…”

“Hey, I swear, when I find him, I’ll give you a call! And then we can get back to work!” Reno called, already starting down the street. “Keep your phone on, yo!”

Rude sighed, watching his partner go. He was never sure what the fiery redhead was thinking, but in this case…

And who the hell is Yuusa?

“Gaia Golds,” Reno grumbled, not looking up as he dug in his pocket for cash. It had been a long night of searching--no, he hadn’t gotten back to work, yes, Tseng was pissed--and where was his wallet? Had he seriously left it at home, really? That was just the cherry on top--

“Oh, you came back.”

“What the FUCK,” Reno hollered, jerking his head up to look at Yazoo. “You’re here?!”

“I’m on morning shifts this week.”

“Fuck if I care--why do you keep coming back here! God, you’re stupid!”

“Do you have money this time?” Yazoo asked politely, as he leaned towards the bat Reno now knew was kept stashed under the counter.

“Don’t even think about it,” Reno snapped, whipping out his electro mag rod and brandishing it. 

“Sure.”

“Look, I don’t know what game you’re playing at, but I’m done. Give me those!” He snatched the cigarette box out of Yazoo’s hand, stuffing it in his pocket, and started around the counter. “Let’s go.”

“You’re really persistent,” Yazoo said, eyeing him strangely.

“Persis--Don’t look at me like that! You realize you almost destroyed the world last year? Kidnapped all those kids? Killed all those people?”

“You people really don’t know how to move on, do you?”

“Yeah, we’re the weird ones, holding a grudge. Come on.”

Yazoo sighed, walking towards him. Reno adjusted his grip on his electro mag rod, ready for anything. There would be no kicks to the groin today, no brooms to the face or escaping or outsmarting him or any of that. Just imagine the looks on everyone’s faces when he handed over--nope, don’t think about it yet. Focus on getting the remnant back to HQ!

“Hold on,” Yazoo said at the door, and dug a keyring out of his back pocket. Reno eyed him suspiciously as he locked the front door behind them. “I have to be back in half an hour to let the next person in, so let’s hurry.”

You’re not coming back here, Reno thought, but something told him it was a waste of breath.

Now that he had the remnant in tow, he could take him… well, not straight to HQ. Nobody would be there for another hour. It was still pretty early.

“Let’s go,” Reno said, jabbing the remnant with his mag rod, prodding him like cattle in the direction of his apartment.

“Hey, Rude, it’s Reno. I know it’s early, you’re probably on your way in, but I need you to come over. It’s urgent. You remember yesterday, at the convenience store? I found him. Get here soo--”

The second beep of the answering machine cut him off, but he was sure he’d gotten most of the message out in time. Reno smiled smugly at his phone, snapping it shut. Now it was just a matter of waiting for Rude to come give him a hand, they could deliver Yazoo together, and then there’d probably be some kind of promotion in order for him.

“Wow, you really live in this dump, huh,” Yazoo called from the kitchenette, examining Reno’s entire life. “I guess some people are just built to survive. Like cockroaches.”

“Feel free to shut up any time,” Reno groaned from his perch on the couch. He had a good view of the remnant from here, and his mag rod hung loosely in his hand, ready to strike if Yazoo tried anything.

“I literally don’t respect you at all,” Yazoo informed him, picking up a chipped and stained SHIN-RA: MAKING THE WORLD BRIGHTER coffee mug by the handle and turning it so the logo faced Reno. 

“Cool,” Reno grumbled, trying to block him out without ignoring his movements.

“Whoops,” Yazoo said, as he dropped the coffee mug to the floor. Rather, he said “whoops” first and then released it, allowing the mug to hit the linoleum and shatter. Dammit, that was a gift from his three month anniversary at Shin-ra! Also, he only had two mugs! 

“You know what,” Reno snapped, standing and storming over to grab the remnant by the arm. “Get over here.”

“Oh?”

“Sit,” Reno ordered him, shoving Yazoo down onto a sagging couch cushion. The remnant bounced lightly, testing his weight on the couch, and looked up again.

“Your cheap furniture really made me change my mind about you--”

THWACK.

Reno’s mag rod made contact with the side of Yazoo’s head, and the remnant jerked and went limp. Fuck, that was satisfying! He should have done that days ago! Reno sighed happily, lifting his head into the sunbeam sneaking in through his open bedroom door. He was at peace again. All was right in the world, now.

Rude rapped his knuckles against the door to Reno’s apartment, frowning vaguely at the remaining peeling number on the chipped wood. The apartment had previously been numbered 518, but after enough abuse and disrepair, the 18 had fallen off, leaving Reno living in number 5, followed by two vaguely number shaped gaps in the dust and grime. 

He knocked again, and there was a scuffling noise inside, as Reno scrambled for the door.

“We’re late,” Rude announced, frowning down at the disheveled redhead. “What’s this about.”

“Come on in, yo!” Reno cried, beckoning Rude into his apartment. “You are gonna love this.”

Rude had a feeling he would not love anything about today, but he entered nonetheless. He paused at the end of the coffee table as Reno shut the door behind him.

“Who is that.” In normal circumstances, with normal people, someone might have asked: “hey, why is there an unconscious person on your couch?” or “what did you do, Reno?!” but in this situation, Rude was a little too used to things going awry, bodies turning up on couches, torture and murder being carried out in someone’s living room. It wasn’t like they hadn’t done almost this exact thing before, at Elena’s place. And at Rude’s apartment. At least this time, he wouldn’t have to clean it up.

“You remember yesterday? When I was trying to find Yuusa?”

“Yes.”

“Well, here he is!”

Rude stared at the unconscious young man on Reno’s couch.

“This is your friend from the convenience store?”

“Not my friend, but yeah.”

“And you knocked him unconscious, brought him here, and called me over.”

“Well not in that order, but yes.”

“Why.”

The look Reno gave him was akin to that of a child, caught mashing up bugs to add to a homemade potion, posed the same question. Hey, why are you doing that? What the hell did he have to say to that?

“Someone had to,” Reno said finally.

Rude’s sunglasses didn’t move, but Reno was sure he was staring at him now.

“I have to get to work,” Rude said, turning away. Reno grabbed his arm, turning him back around.

“Wait, wait wait wait. Just look at him, alright? Tell me you don’t recognize him.”

“I don’t.”

“Come on! Look past the dyejob.”

Rude squinted behind his sunglasses, trying to place the sleeping, steadily bruising face. Pale skin, a youthful appearance, no scars or freckles. Ponytail was a little ragged, no doubt from being dragged around by Reno.

Rude turned to look at Reno out of the corner of his eye, and the redhead’s face lit up. “You recognize him, right?”

“Don’t waste my time like that again,” Rude said, and pushed past him to the door.

As soon as the door shut again, a chuckle rose from the remnant on the couch. Reno turned away from the door, looking back at him.

“That really backfired on you, didn’t it,” Yazoo laughed, cracking his eyes open to look up at him. Still green. Not as green as a year ago.

“Can it,” Reno snarled.

“So now what? The other Shin-ra dogs don’t recognize me.”

“Rude doesn’t. That doesn’t mean the two you tortured won’t.” Yazoo’s smile didn’t falter.

“Are you enjoying this or something?”

“A little. It’s less boring.”

“You’re twisted.”

“How long has it been?” Yazoo asked, turning his head to pop his neck and standing.

“Over an hour.”

“Well, I’m going back to work then,” Yazoo decided, and started for the door. Reno glared at the back of his head. The remnant paused in the doorway, turned, and looked back at him, face unreadable past the blossoming bruise.

“You’re a pretty bad guard dog. Maybe you’d make a better lap dog?”

Reno grabbed the other mug off his coffee table and hurled it at the door as it shut.