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The World I Know	By : animemonster Category: Final Fantasy VII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 602 -:- 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
- 1-The World I Know
- 1
Author’s Note: This fic was inspired by the lyrics from the song “The World I Know” by Collective Soul. For some reason the song was screaming at me to write Reno, so I gave it what it wanted without a fight. Enjoy.
Warnings: mild Shounen-ai/Yaoi/Slash, Spoilers (major for game, mild for Advent Children, mild spoilers for the opening of Dirge of Cerberus), language, mild violence, alcohol
Summary: Reno in a bar after Diamond Weapon’s attack thinking Rufus is dead.
Editing Note: While I have edited this and changed many things, this still ignores the events of Before Crisis and Advent Children Complete.
Rating: T/PG-13

The World I Know

I tossed back the first shot with all intents of getting so drunk that I had to use the bar stool as a walker to leave the bar. I knew, however, that what I really wanted was to sit alone and slowly drink myself into oblivion, rather than walk out of the bar still conscious.
"Beer, and keep them coming," I say to the bartender. She's a pretty little thing, golden blond hair tied in a messy bun to keep it out of the drinks, and blue eyes that almost glowed like Mako eyes. On a normal day I would get her phone number, just to prove I could, after all, I wouldn't have any intention of calling her, and she'd know it. On a normal day, Rude would be right at my side, still trying to drink me under the table, when we both know he can't. He would swear, as we stagger out of the bar in the early hours of the morning, that I'm part fish and that my tattoos are my gills.
Today wasn't a normal day, however. Tonight I wasn't getting drinks, after a long day of work, with Rude, Elena, and/or Tseng. Tonight I wanted to forget that Tseng was still in a hospital on the critical list after being stabbed by Sephiroth, even though that was months ago. Tonight, METEOR is filling the sky as it falls to Gaia. Tonight, rescue and recovery teams are scurrying about Midgar and pulling people from the ruins of Shin-Ra Tower. Maybe I should be out there instead of in here, but with the boss dead who wants help from a Turk? Especially the one that dropped the Sector 7 plate. Was that really only two months ago? It felt like a lifetime. I down my mug quickly and the bartender replaces it with a new one without even waiting to be told.
I looked up at the television, there wasn't a sports event on, anything that would have been today was canceled. They weren't even piping in the Chocobo races from the Gold Saucer. No, one of Midgar's news stations was on the air. Every once in awhile I'd hear a helicopter, either rescue crews moving the critical to the military hospital in Junon or returning from Junon to take more injured. I didn't even need the reporter to tell me that they were taking more people to the field hospitals than they were to Junon, with the war over there wasn't as many beds anymore. The former president had cut back on the expenditures for the hospital. I tossed back another mug as the camera zoomed on the tower, trying to block out the image. Even with the glass blocking my vision I could tell that the damage was bad, the whole top floor seemed to be gone. There was no way Rufus could have survived.
By the time I put the mug down a new one was waiting and I picked it up. The bartender was casting looks of disapproval at me. She knew I wasn't going to cause her any problems, but she also knew that I was a danger to myself. The reporter was saying something about the rescue operations being hindered by people evacuating the city. Just before Diamond Weapon made Shin-Ra tower look like a particularly fine slice of Kalm cheese, experts were saying that METEOR was going to impact Midgar. Leaving the city would only prevent a quick death if that thing actually hit. METEOR was about half the size of the moon and judging by how it reacted to being hit by the rocket, much denser, or so the scientists claimed. I didn't pay any attention past "...wipe out all life on the planet..." that's all I needed to know.
The reporter was talking, but I couldn't hear what she was saying. She was another pretty blond, why were they all blonds, tonight? Someone stood up and hit the volume button, I watched the bars go up and slowly the reporter's voice became audible, even to me. "...~~~scue and evacuation efforts are underway on the plate as officials are urging all people to help with the rescue of survivors from Shin-Ra tower or stay in their homes."
People were probably fine on the lower floors, it was the executive floors that were the problems. "Efforts are hampered on the Science Research floors as several specimens have escaped containment. Crews are asking for assistance from any one with fighting experience in subduing the creatures."
That didn't surprise me at all, Hojo always had something ferocious in the labs. It actually got better after Hollander deserted. Hojo could only do so much and he destroyed most of Hollander's experiments himself. I drain another glass as the camera zoomed into the upper floors. That must have been one extremely powerful camera as I could see the flash of gunfire and materia use in some of the upper floors of the building, even with the lightning from the atmospheric storm caused by METEOR. 'Was he scared' I asked myself silently. I wondered if the President regretted anything as he watched the attack come in. Did he try to duck or use Barrier?
I haven't been in the bar for thirty minutes and I was already feeling buzzed. "There is no official word from Shin-Ra upper management. Efforts to reach Mr. Tuesti, Mayor Domino, General Heidegger, or President Shin-Ra have failed." A pair of drunks behind me get into a fight and I consider joining in for the hell of it but it looses it allure as fast as the thought occurred. I dodged a shotglass as it whizzed past my head and the bartender proves that she's more than just a pretty face as she pulls out a shotgun from under the bar top.
Rufus preferred a shotgun. Damn I must be drunker than I thought to be drawing parallels between Rufus and a blond bartender. She doesn't even shoot the drunks, just having the pair of 23-bores pointed at them and hearing the cocking action was enough for the pair to stop their fighting real quick. Money falls onto the bar out of their pockets under the watchful twin eyes of the beast of a weapon. They're out the door faster than I could say Chocobo and she presses the safety catch into the locked position before depositing the gun back under the counter.
I return my attention to the television and pick up the new glass that the bartender gives me. I hear a female voice, not the reporter's, shouting orders. How is the Wutai princess in charge of evacuations? I barely understood what she said, something about being the last of them? Were they done evacuating the tower injured? But it didn't matter. I notice something on a wide angle shot that makes me drop the mug. Glass shatters and beer spills on the floor, did I just see what I think I saw? I hold my breath as the camera pans around and I almost miss it again. There, behind one of the fire chief a stretcher holds a familiar person in a white suit. There's no movement, but he's intact, I don't even see any blood. A pair of firefighters are moving him to one of the helicopters. They weren't evacuating the dead. That meant...
That meant Rufus was alive. I stood quickly and dropped more than enough cash to satisfy the tab and the broken glass. I didn't even stick around for change. I'm remarkably sober again and already considering the fastest way to get to Junon. I pull out my PHS and hit the GPS button looking for one of the For-Convenience vehicles the Turks have spread across the city, a motorcycle is the closest and I quickly get on. I thank my luck that it's not a car and it's close by. I get on and use the code to turn it on before putting myself on a course for the city limits. I knew I shouldn't be driving with how much alcohol was in my system, I lost count of the number of mugs I drank, but I hadn't felt this sober in a long time. I don't even know who else knows about this and who else will show up, but I would be there, I would guard him.
I have to slow down as I approach the highway, the roads are jammed with people trying to get out of the city. I know it's going to take to long, even zipping between the traffic, so I detour. I break through the divider of one of the Plate-to-Slum rail-lines and only briefly turn green as I move to drive on the tracks. I know the trains are down, firing Sister Ray took a lot of power, I'm surprised the television in the bar was on. No wonder people are still fleeing Midgar with the information on the television, no one has power. It slowly sinks in what kind of disaster this is. Midgar isn't going to recover. The firing of Sister Ray probably took all the Mako the eight reactors could provide, METEOR was going to hit the city, and Shin-Ra was destroyed. Even though Rufus was alive, there was no Company anymore, I didn't have a boss, I didn't have to do this.
But I wanted to do this. Rufus wasn't just my boss. He is my obsession. I jump off the tracks onto the only highway out of the city that isn't packed, the Sector 7 Expressway. It's as rough as the rail-line and I have to slow down at points to navigate particularly traitorous sections of roadway. The smell of death makes my nose wrinkle and I remember that Rufus's old man had declared that there wouldn't be a clean up effort due to the capture of Aerith. Rufus never rescinded his father's order. I doubt many people made it out of the Sector alive.
I finally escape Midgar and make my way south. I move too fast for the local monsters to keep up, a few persistent beasts get a literal shock of their life, courtesy of BOLT3. Finally, I make it to the mountains and take the pass through the hills, on the other side is Junon and I wasn't going to wait. I arrive just as last of the helicopters are landing. I don't even bother turning off the engine as my eyes scan the still bodies being pulled out of the cargo holds. I realize that it must be a Stop spell to keep their conditions from deteriorating. I see a flash of white out of the corner of my eye, but it's just a doctor.
"Reno!" I hear a voice shout to me among the Chaos. I know it's Elena, but I ignore her, still searching. I only have one task and I'm going to succeed it. "Reno!" Elena is right next to me, she must be scared. I'm never this serious. She just made Turk and had done more in two months than most agents did in a lifetime. I make a mental note to tell Tseng.
I approach one of the medical personnel, Elena following. She's quite, she must know that I'm not going to speak. "Where's triage happenin'?" I ask the orderlie. My accent is almost completely missing, I'm not concentrating enough.
"Building 2 Ward A," the Orderlie snaps off, looking at us. It's clear by his expression that he thinks we have no business there, but he must recognize the uniform. Turks still mean something in Junon, it seemed. I make my way to the building at a run. Elena is barely keeping up in her heels. It's clear she wants to know what's going on, what's gotten into me. I briefly wonder how she knew I was in Junon, but it's not important.
Ward A is huge and it takes me a moment to take it all in. The smell of mako, antiseptic, and ozone is strong. I realize that many of the injured are probably SOLDIER operatives who have greater resilience than the normal person. "Reno, Tseng isn't in triage," Elena said. She thinks I'm here for Tseng, as much as I cared about the Director of the Turks, I knew his status.
I see something white being moved halfway down the ward to my left and focus on it. It's Rufus' jacket. I make my way over, dodging doctors, nurses, and patients. "Reno..." Elena was surprised by my sudden movement and had been about to scold me when her eyes landed on what I had already seen. There stretched out in a hospital gown was Rufus. Elena turns to the nurse who is placing his personal effects in a bag and asks, "What is his status?"
The nurse takes one look at our uniforms and answers, "Third and second degree burns over the next and torso. First degree burns on the arms and legs. Eighteen fractures, including ribs, details are on the chart. Punctured-lung. Mako poisoning. Severe concussion. Cuts to the eyeballs. And general cuts and bruises. He's lucky to be alive."
Elena picked up the chart and was already going over it. "You don't have his name on this," she said.
"He has no identification on him," the nurse said.
Elena wisely kept her mouth shut about his identity. Many blamed Shin-Ra for the disaster, and neither of us would put it past someone to take revenge on Rufus while he was convalescing. Rufus was alive, I was going to keep it that way. Judging by Elena's attitude she was on board as well. I knew Tseng would help when he was cleared for duty and Rude wouldn't leave me hanging. In fact, it sounded like Elena was speaking to him now on her PHS. But I tuned it out, I was too busy checking over Rufus's condition.
- 1
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The World I Know