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The Reaper	By : crystalwind Category: Final Fantasy VII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 676 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
Warnings: Angst, drunkenness, some good 'ol Turk bonding time.

Chapter Thirteen – Assignments

The car door slammed, and Reno couldn't resist smirking as the Turk who had been occupying the driver's seat stormed by him. 'There goes another one, off to tell Tseng that he can't stand me and refuses to work with me again.' His amusement was short-lived, and he sighed. Yeah, there went another one. Another senior Turk who had been unfortunate enough to be assigned to work with him. Another senior Turk who would not be willing to partner with him when the time came. Another enemy, another name to cross of the list of potential friends. Reno wouldn't be allowed to graduate without a partner.
Shoulders slumped, hands stuffed into pockets, he wandered out of the parking garage and into the daylight. Towards the end of training, every Trainee was sent out on missions designed to ensure that they were reliable in the field. The missions were also to match them up with partners; every Turk had to have a partner, whether they actually went on missions together all the time or not. Thus far, Reno had managed to alienate every single Turk he was assigned to.
He didn't mean to make them angry, honestly. He just… couldn't help it. It wasn't that he didn't like any of them; hell, some of them were pretty cool people. He even wanted to be friends with some of them, to be liked by them. The problem was that he didn't really like himself. He had never gotten over what Devin and the others did to him, not really. He hid it well; to the casual observer, he was as good as though the incident had never happened. There was no one to see the look of self-loathing that he often gave himself in the mirror, no one witness to the thoughts spinning through his mind that he really was worthless, just a stupid slum rat who didn't deserve to see the sun. He masked it by acting like a smart-ass, making jokes about anything and everything. That's what drove everyone away, and it hurt him every damned time, even if he did feel like he deserved to be alone.

"I know you two have a… history… but… there really isn't anyone else to send him out with at this point."
Silence.
"It's just a stakeout."
Silence.
"It'll only be one night."
Silence.
"So… he'll meet you in the parking garage at 1900 tomorrow evening, then?"
A shrug, and a nod.

"What's up, Sunglass-guy?" Rude didn't say anything, watching Reno approach the car. His car. Which was now toilet paper-free.
Reno stopped in front of him, fidgeting a little. He recognized the car, and recognized the stern frown that Rude was currently fixing him with. That look generally didn't bode well for his future.
"Get in."
Deciding that angering Rude this early into the mission probably wasn't such a great idea, Reno complied, climbing into the passenger seat. "Heeey, nice ride." He smirked, running his hand over the leather seat. The other Turks' cars weren't nice like this.
Rude ignored him, climbing into the driver's seat and pulling out of the parking garage without saying another word. Reno frowned, watching him out of the corner of his eye. "You know, it's not polite to ignore people. Especially when they're trying to have a conversation with you. In fact, it's actually kind of rude, don't you think? Your mom must have known you would…" Rude swerved to the side of the street, effectively cutting off Reno's monologue. 'Great. I'm about to set a record for the shortest mission ever, with the one guy who everyone says is patient to a fault.' Rude locked the doors, and pulled out a roll of duct tape.
Reno struggled, but Rude was… well, Reno had been right to call the guy a behemoth. Reno didn't really stand a chance. By the time Rude was finished, Reno had duct tape wrapping around his head four times to cover his mouth, and his hands were taped to the seat to prevent him from removing the tape from his head. He glared at Rude for the duration of the stakeout.

"How did it go?" As normally happened when a senior Turk didn't call halfway through the mission to announce that he wasn't continuing the job with the red-headed Trainee, Tseng was waiting in the parking garage upon their return, practically desperate to hear that someone was willing to work with the Trainee.
Rude shrugged. "Fine." Reno rolled his eyes, scalp, face, and hands smarting from where the duct tape had been ripped off, and stalked off, not bothering to dignify either Turk with a response. 'Yeah, fucking fine. Right…'

Reno would never admit it to anyone else, but he was nervous. Graduation. He had been a resident at the Turk Training Center for nine months. He had passed his classes, his exams, and somehow even his assignments. Now he sat in an uncomfortable metal chair in the middle of the auditorium, along with 37 other soon-to-be Turks. Training Group 713 had started with approximately 200 Trainees; most had dropped before the Deadline. The rest of them were about to walk across the auditorium stage and receive their first copy of the Turk Field Manual, the only official "document" that recognized their graduation; even the Library didn't contain a copy of the Field Manual.
Reno glanced up into the stands. As predicted, he didn't really know anyone there. He recognized a few parents from when they had visited their kids, but he obviously didn't have any of his own to invite. He hadn't ever told his other "family" down in the slums – Mel, Sonny, and the gang – that he was leaving to become a Turk; as far as they knew, he had died after the Reaping. That left… no one. He sighed. It was probably better that way… nobody that he knew would be there to witness his humiliation when he wasn't called up on the stage as a result of not having a partner. All of the other Trainees knew who they'd be paired up with by now; all he knew was that he'd pissed all of the other Turks off.
Giving an inaudible sigh, he stared at the back of the seat on front of him. He probably shouldn't have even bothered showing up… the other Trainees all knew that none of the Turks had declared for him, and they'd been whispering about the fact that he wasn't going to graduate for a couple of weeks now. He was starting to get tired of crying himself to sleep at night.
The double-doors opened at the back of the auditorium, and there was a stir amongst the Turks, who were seated in their own section of the bleachers. Curious, and wanting something to distract him from his melancholy anyway, Reno turned his head to look. Pale white skin, huge glasses thick enough that Reno could see his eyes from all the way over here… was that Whisper?
The albino Turk was wearing a suit that Reno had never seen on him before, dark and clean and tailored, looking as sharp as anything that Rude ever wore. His hair was clipped neatly, the normally-scruffy whiskers on his face equally trimmed. He hadn't left the Development room in seven years – he even kept his own cot in a small back room. Whisper ascended the steps into the bleachers, ignoring the astounded looks that he was receiving from the other Turks. They all knew of him, and a few even remembered him from their own days as Trainees, but nobody understood why the hell he was suddenly showing up in public for a graduation ceremony.
He reached an empty seat and turned, scanning the rows of Trainees in the center of the auditorium before his eyes landed on Reno. Beaming, he flashed him a thumbs up, and Reno smiled a real smile for the first time in… well, for the first time since Sim had betrayed him, honestly. He relaxed, turning back towards the front of the auditorium as Whisper sat down. It looked like he had a friend up there to watch him graduate after all.

The euphoria brought on by Whisper's arrival faded slowly through the evening, leaving him jittery and slightly nauseous by the time the Trainees were finally called across the stage. The names weren't in alphabetical order; rather, they were called in ranking order, from lowest to highest. Unfortunately, Tseng wasn't saying what rank each person was, and Reno hadn't been paying attention when the first few were called onto the stage, leaving him unable to determine how many people had been called. When his name wasn't called towards the beginning, he started to feel dizzy. His instructors hated him. Pretty much everyone hated him; there was no way he had ranked very highly in the Training Group. Everyone was going to be called up there except him. He would be left sitting alone in the middle of that damned auditorium, with everybody and their brother, literally, watching him in contempt. Even Whisper, the one person who held some semblance of respect for Reno, would probably be disgusted, annoyed that he'd left his room for the first time in years just to see a failure.
The center of the auditorium slowly emptied, with each new Turk's partner meeting them on the stage to present the Field Manual and a brief speech, and Reno had to fight to keep from hyperventilating when he was suddenly alone in those cold metal seats. The only Turks left on stage were Tseng, Rude, and Elena, all of whom had to be there for the ceremony anyway. The new Turks, his former classmates, stood with their new partners to the side, Field Manuals clutched in their hands. They were all staring at him; he felt like he was the lone target in a shooting gallery.
"Reno." Reno nearly jumped out of his skin, turning from his classmates' stares to watch Tseng. "Ranked number one in Training Group 713. Partnered by Rude." Reno stared. 'Seriously?'
He didn't realize that he'd said it out loud until the people in the stands chuckled, and Tseng sighed, doing his best not to outright scowl at the person he'd just proclaimed to be the best in his class. Reno, for his part, did his best not to blush, and climbed to his feet. The other Turks, new and old alike, began to whisper to each other, most of them surprised that he'd managed to rank number one, and all of them surprised that Rude had selected him for a partner. Rude hadn't had a partner for nearly four years now; everyone had always assumed that he just hated people, and that's why he never spoke to anyone or removed his sunglasses.
Reno walked up the stairs to the stage, wondering if Rude was going to give a speech like everyone else. Thus far, the longest sentence he'd ever heard the man utter was during his move-in, when he'd told Reno how long he had before he needed to report to the gym; he wasn't sure if the guy was capable of actually saying anything longer than that.
To his surprise, Rude handed him a long box along with the Field Manual. To his lack of surprise, Rude didn't give a speech, simply nodding at him and moving over to where the other newly-partnered Turks were standing. Reno smirked and followed him, resisting the urge to rip open the box, and lined up with the others, who were apparently waiting for a group photo. Several stupid smiles and speeches and seven blinding flashes later, and they were done. Graduated. Turks.
Reno grinned, stuffing his Field Manual into a pocket and pulling off the lid of the box. Inside was… a stick. He pulled it out, setting the box on the floor by his feet. The other Turks dispersed to meet with their families, but Rude hovered curiously; the lab techs hadn't told him what was in the box, just asked him to give it to Reno, and he had resisted the urge to open it without permission.
The handle of the rod was wrapped with a fine black leather, perfectly matching the leash and wrist band that were attached by finely-crafted silver clasps. There was a shorter leather-wrapped section a few inches apart from the main grip, making it possible for the rod to be wielded with two hands if necessary. The rod itself was made of a new metal alloy that neither Rude nor Reno was able to identify. It was collapsible, and measured approximately 3 feet when collapsed, 5 when extended. Two materia slots adorned the space between the primary and secondary grips, and a sliding switch that allowed for a power-level selection completed the weapon. Glancing down at the box, Rude noticed a folded note in the bottom and pulled it out, handing it to Reno.
'Its official name is the Electro-Magnetic Rod; we call it the EMR for short. We've made all of the modifications that you asked about, including replacing the battery with a special cell that was just developed recently; the maximum power output is 347 percent greater than the original model. You'll have to drop by one night and leave a note letting us know how it works for you.
Congrats, by the way.'
Reno smiled, handing the note to Rude and strapping the EMR to his wrist. Rude read the note and shook his head. The tech geeks had ignored him for years; how did Reno manage to make friends with them so easily?
"Well, that settles it." Rude looked at Reno curiously, as did Tseng and Elena, who had just walked up to them. "We are going drinking." Reno tapped Rude on the shoulder with the EMR to emphasize his point. Rude stared. Reno stared back. "What?" Silence. "Aw, come on, Rude. It's my graduation. You have to go out and celebrate with me." More silence. "Please?" Rude sighed, then shrugged. Reno hissed out a "Yesss" and did an impromptu victory dance. Tseng and Elena merely stared. Rude was going to go out and drink? This they had to see.

Mainstreet was packed again, this time with Turks and Soldiers, the Trainees had all graduated, and the Cadets were stuck preparing for their final Field Exercises. The Soldiers were the first thing that Reno really noticed, since Sephiroth was there and called him over immediately.
Rude, who was looking a little lost and perhaps slightly panicked in the social environment, followed close on his heels, and Tseng and Elena trailed them as much for the potential entertainment factor as anything else.
Reno arrived next to Sephiroth, eyes glancing over the three Soldiers First Class who were sitting with him before smirking at the General. "What's up, Gargantuan? I didn't know they invited mutants to Turk celebrations." The Soldier to Sephiroth's left choked on his drink in an attempt not to laugh, and Sephiroth smiled.
"Brat, meet my idiot of a second-in-command, Zack Fair. Zackary, try not to die while I'm seated at the table with you; it would look bad." Zack grinned, holding back his bubbling coughs, and waved at Reno, his almost-purple eyes sparkling. Reno laughed and nodded in response, and Sephiroth moved on to his two other companions. "My other miserable cohorts who were drug along for the event: Angeal," the other black-haired Soldier nodded gravely, without smiling, "and Genesis." The ginger-haired Soldier didn't even look up from the book he was reading, merely waving a languid hand in Reno's general direction as a form of acknowledgment. Reno stretched to try and see what Genesis was reading, but all he could tell was that it was some kind of play.
"Loveless. It's all he ever reads." Zack sounded highly exasperated, staring at Genesis as though he were a lost cause. Reno had heard about Loveless, although he'd never read or watched it, and silently agree that Genesis probably was.
"In any case," Sephiroth continued, "I just wanted to buy you a drink in congratulations." A glass full of some unknown but suspiciously-smelling substance was at his fingertips a moment later, and the General handed it over, smirking when Reno was foolish enough to take a sniff and almost gagged. Raising his own glass, he made a toast. "To Reno, for graduating against everyone else's expectations, and for finally finding someone who wouldn't rather stuff his head down a toilet than work with him." Everyone in the vicinity, well aware of Reno's reputation, laughed, cheered, and downed their drinks. Reno glared at Sephiroth, silently vowing revenge with the look in his eyes, and chugged whatever Sephiroth had just given him. It tasted about as bad as it smelled, and Reno coughed and spluttered, tossing the glass indignantly when Sephiroth laughed at him.
"Hey! I don't know if anyone ever told you, Seph, but battery acid really isn't an acceptable substitute for a good drink."
Sephiroth chuckled, then waved him away. "Okay, okay. I'll keep that in mind." He smirked. "Now go away and drink somewhere else. I've heard that people wind up with food poisoning around you, and I'd hate to have to be throwing up tomorrow." Reno winked, the closest he'd ever come to admitting to poisoning Aika, and sauntered off, Rude in tow. Tseng and Elena settled at Sephiroth's table, positioning themselves where they could keep an eye on the redhead and his partner. A known troublemaker and a man who never drank in public was probably a recipe for disaster in a bar like this, and they wanted to make sure they'd be able to see all of the fun from where they were at.

The rest of the evening passed by in a drunken blur for both Reno and Rude. There were many toasts to the new Turks that night, and Reno made sure that Rude drank for every one of them, and then some. By the time they finally left the bar, well beyond the time that Mainstreet usually closed, both Turks were officially smashed. The next thing Reno remembered with any sort of clarity was flopping down on the couch at Rude's apartment, with neither of them 100 sure how they'd arrived there. More drinks followed, and Reno wound up spilling out his "life story" (which was primarily a bunch of babble about his baby brother's "cool green eyes") to Rude, who returned the favor with some drunken rambling about his own brother and sister, none of which Reno remembered in the morning anyway.

"Morning" announced itself in the form of bright sunrays spilling through the open blinds of Rude's living room directly onto their faces. Reno grumbled and whimpered incoherently, shifting around in an abortive attempt at fleeing from the sun, unintentionally waking Rude and making him fall onto the floor. Rude sat up, glasses askew, and looked around, absently wiping a stream of drool off of his chin and onto Reno's pants. He looked around blankly for several moments before realizing that the sun was in his eyes, and that the windows to his living room faced west. Groaning, he lurched to his feet, righting his sunglasses with one hand and shaking Reno awake with the other.
Reno flailed, convinced in his half-conscious state that he was trapped in some kind of explosion or earthquake, and nearly hit Rude in the face before he finally woke up enough to realize what was going on. His grumbling started anew. "Rude…it's the day after a party. Why are we awake right now? The whole point of partying is so that you can sleep the entire next d- did you drool on me?" Rude looked away, straightening the tie that he'd miraculously survived the night with, and Reno glared, wiping the drool off of his forehead. "Not cool, partner. Not cool."
Rude pretended like nothing had happened, and ignored him. "We're late for work."
"We have to go to work today?" Rude nodded, and Reno sighed, aggravated, and flopped back over on the couch. "I don't want to go to work." Rude shrugged. "Make me breakfast?" Rude stared, hesitated, and shrugged again, making his way to the kitchen. It was probably the least he could do for drooling on Reno's face. Reno smirked, curling up on the couch to wait for food to be ready, and fell back asleep.
The next time he woke up, it was to the smell of pancakes. He staggered into the kitchen, smiling when he saw two places set at the table, complete with full glasses of orange juice and coffee. "Wow, Rude. I think I need to keep you if you're going to treat me like this." Rude paused, confused, and shrugged, deciding that it would take too much effort and arguing to make Reno realize that Rude had picked him, and not the other way around. He set the pancakes in the table.
"Dig in." Reno complied cheerfully, noticing happily that the pancakes had chocolate chips and bananas in them. The two ate in relative silence, pointing at butter and syrup when they wanted something and otherwise focusing entirely on their food. A short stack of dishes and two quick showers later, and they were dressed and ready to go, Reno's EMR now taking up permanent residence attached to his wrist. A note stuck on the dashboard of Rude's car informed them that Tseng and Elena had driven them to Rude's apartment, clearing up the confusion of how they'd gotten there without dying along the way, and Rude pulled out of the parking lot, ignoring Reno's pleas to let him drive.

The drive to the office had passed by uneventfully, with Rude using silence as a means of ignoring Reno's arguments as to why he should be allowed to drive. He also used silence, and his mirrored glasses, to cover his amazement at Reno's ability to carry on a half-hour conversation all by himself.
Once at the ShinRa building, Reno led the way to the office, using his stacks of forged keycards to get there. Rude shook his head, trying not to laugh, and decided that as soon as they had moved Reno into the office, he would have to take the new Turk to get an all-access keycard, to save him the trouble of carrying twenty of them around in his pocket.
The office, which had long since been cleaned of all traces of the evil smiley faces, now had two desks, two sets of filing cabinets, and a double wardrobe in it. Otherwise, nothing was particularly different from Reno's last (illegal) visit here. Same boring grey carpet, white walls, speckled ceiling. "This place sucks." Rude grunted, mostly agreeing with the statement, and Reno continued, collapsing into his chair and staring up at the ceiling. "I'm going to decorate this place, 'kay?" Rude shrugged, not really paying a lot of attention, and hung his jacket on the back of his own chair, sitting down and rolling up to his desk. Reno zeroed in on him instantly. "Why don't I have a rolley chair?"
"I stole mine from Heidegger." Reno stared.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. Not sure why he had it anyway; he's too fat to fit in it." Reno grinned.
"Mission number one: find a fat exec who doesn't fit in his chair and liberate it. For the good of the chair, of course." Rude smirked and unlocked his filing cabinet, pulling out the first of the day's paperwork to get started on. Reno shifted, about to ask what he was supposed to do, when a knock came on the door.
It opened without waiting for an answer, and Tseng walked in. "Fill these out. Once you're done, Rude can take you around to get your keycard and introduce you to anyone you don't know. I'm sure you've already taken your own tour of the building." He dropped an inch-thick stack of paperwork on Reno's desk and walked out before the redhead could protest. Reno protested to Rude instead.
"Why do I have paperwork? I haven't even been here one day yet!" Rude shrugged, not showing any signs of sympathy, and Reno growled, pulling the first paper off of the stack.
"Report on Projected Expenditure for Office Supplies."
Reno groaned, burying his head on his arms. Today was going to be a long day.

A/N:
Yaay, Reno made it :) And Whisper left his cave in a show of support :) We also see the 1st Class Soldiers (Cloud, in case you didn't guess, is one of the cadets prepping for Field Exercises, and therefore wasn't there; we'll meet him later on).
I got the idea for the pancakes from another fanfic (a KH one, don't remember the name of it :( ). I've had pancakes with chocolate chips in them, but not bananas, and it sounded really good when I read about them, so I decided to use them here. Eventually I'll make some for myself and see how they work :p
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The Reaper