Chapter 2- The Ticking Clock
The office was in ruins.. No, ruins did not do this catastrophe justice.
Cloud had to tread carefully to avoid stepped on the bodies which littered the hallway, both prisoner and cop alike.
But, at the moment, he did care about the nameless bodies which lined the ground. No, he just needed to find Reno. Maybe he had gotten away, maybe he had hidden himself..
Searching. Those mako blue eyes trying desperately to find something, anything to prove that Reno had made it out alright...
What he found had just proved the nagging feeling in the back of his mind right... Reno's weapon was lying in one of the less bloody rooms. The door of said room had been kicked off of it's hinges.
Wordlessly, Cloud stepped into the room, his eyes following the trail of blood which lead to behind the desk. Slowly, moving towards the desk with a sense of dread... His worst fears were confirmed.
It was Reno.
He was half underneath the desk, laying on his stomach, splintered wood lying all around him, some floating upon the pool of crimson which surrounded the red-head, soaking him with it.
Cloud wouldn't accept it. He /couldn't! He moved slowly towards the body, gently removing the ex-Turk from underneath his desk, his eyes watering.
He was dead.
He had already known when he first saw the red-head. The sense of death surrounding the room, emanating from Reno's still form.
His throat had been slashed, he'd been stabbed through the chest... Wounds just littering his pale flesh. Those mako-green eyes were closed, never to open again...
Only two things could describe the feeling that Cloud felt at that moment. Rage. uncontrollable, burning rage. How... How /dare/ Sephiroth take him away! How could he loose his final tie to this world...
Sorrow. Drowning, utter suffocating sorrow. He was gone. He'd been gone far too long to use some revive spell.. The wounds too great, the soul long gone.
A choked sob escaping the warrior, his eyes shutting tightly as he pulled Reno's lifeless body to his...
"Reno.." He could only utter a single word before the torment and pain of this event stuck him, sending him to a world of pain and darkness...
A few months had passed since that day that Cloud had found Reno's still body in the police station.
And he avenged him.
Yes, he had tracked that filthy bastard Sephiroth down and killed him in cold blood. Anger fuelling his actions. Anger the only thing he could honestly feel.
He had seen to it that Sephiroth felt the agony of all the people he had killed as he died. And even then, his mind wouldn't let him stop...
He was gone now...
And now, Cloud was at the end of his rope.
He couldn't sleep. Couldn't eat.. Depressed to the point where it was a struggle to get out of bed in the morning.
Laying on the couch now, Mako-blue eyes staring at the ticking cat-clock which was tucked in the corner of the small apartment...
He grimaced, looking away from those ticking, lifeless eyes. That clock had been the one that Reno had picked out for their one year anniversary...
Tick-tock
No. He couldn't take it anymore... Sephiroth would only come back again, come back to torment him. He had nothing now.
The others had all managed to get their lives back on track. Why couldn't he? I mean, they had all lost everything at one point...
Tick-tock
He didn't want this anymore.
Tick-tock
Which brought attention to the item held so tenderly in his hand.
Tick-tock
Reno's gun.
Tick-tock
The weapon which the red-head scoffed at whenever he saw it, saying that his EMR was so much more useful.
Tick-tock
"You were wrong about one thing, Reno.." His voice was soft as he sat upright, mako-blue eyes regarding the lifeless clock which was ticking down the final moments of his life.."This is useful..."
Tick-tock
Slowly, he brought the weapon to his chest, shutting his eyes and allowing a small smile to grace his lips."I'll see you soon.."
BANG!
The shot echoed through-out the small apartment, followed by a steady 'tick. Tick. Tick' Of the now frozen clock. Marking the moment which the first drops of crimson blood stained the floor.
And the ominous ticking continued.
Tick-
Tick-
Tick-
Tick-
Tick-
End
Author's Notes: There were a few different endings, but I liked this one the best... Eh, I think the first of it seemed rushed... Leave me some pretteh reviews if you liked this!