Chapter Five

When Reno woke up, he was groggy and lightheaded, and immediately assaulted by a bright white light tinged with red. He blinked a few times, pushing himself up to a sitting position.

Cloud's sword…I fell, and…I'm dead.

He didn't know which shocked him more; the fact that he was dead, or the fact that Cloud had admitted that he was in love with him.

"Knew you'd end up here sooner rather than later."

Reno looked up, not surprised to see Rude standing over him. Though it wasn't really Rude, not with the Life Stream controlling him.

"What can I say? I have a death wish," Reno replied.

"It doesn't end here," Rude said. "I could destroy your soul, if I so choose. Leave you in black nothingness for all eternity."

"That wouldn't be very nice of you."

Rude growled, grabbed Reno by the throat, and then lifted him into the air. Almost immediately Reno felt the change- it was like dying all over again. Like his soul was being forced out of him. Rude hadn't been kidding.

Reno's hands scrambled for his pocket, praying that the materia would still be there. If Vincent was wrong and the materia hadn't gone with him to the Life Stream, then they were all screwed.

He breathed a sigh of relief as his hand closed over the materia. But as he took it out, he had the overwhelming urge to drop it. Ignore it. Do nothing. He was having a hard time even remembering what it was for.

The Life Stream. It's trying to control you.

Gasping, twitching, and fighting off the urge to give in, Reno activated the summon. It took the last of his strength to do so. He went limp in Rude's grip, darkness beginning to set in. He barely heard the sound of hooves, and suddenly the horse ran through Rude, who dropped Reno and stumbled back.

Reno gasped, his hand flying to his throat as he coughed and dragged air into his aching lungs.

I shouldn't even have to breathe. I'm dead.

"It's about time!"

All it took were those words and one look up at Rude, and Reno knew he had his partner back. The summon had freed him of the infection.

"Had to take a couple detours," he said to Rude, his voice hoarse. Rude reached down, helping his partner to his feet. The horse was making its way through the Life Stream, the red infection disappearing in its wake.

"Isn't quite the same without your stupid jokes and constant rambling," Rude said.

"Miss you like hell too, man."

"Well, isn't this touching," a new voice said, and Reno and Rude turned. Rufus was standing not far away, watching the exchange with a smirk.

"Hey, Rufus! I can call you Rufus now, right, with you bein' dead and all…"

Reno trailed off when he suddenly realized that Rude was glaring at Rufus, as if he hated the man with a passion.

"Um…did I miss something?"

Rufus chuckled. "Clueless, as usual."

"He's the one behind all of this," Rude growled. "He planned it all. Even his own death."

Reno's jaw dropped, but Rufus only laughed.

"And it worked so well, didn't it?" he asked with a cocky, calm tone to his voice.

"You killed all those people? You controlled Aeris?" Reno asked, fury beginning to take over.

"And you fell for it at every turn," Rufus said. "I have enough power that your petty little summon can't even hurt me."

Reno practically growled. He'd been betrayed by someone whom he trusted- someone who'd now killed or tried to kill everyone he cared about. He suddenly wished he'd brought his rod with him along with the materia. "I don't need a summon to kick your ass," he said, getting ready for a fight.

Just like old times, he thought as Rude stepped forward to back him up. Let's have one last hurrah. One last time, one last fight.

"If it's a fight you want, I'll not disappoint," Rufus said, red energy gathering around his body.

And so, the fight began.

Both Rude and Reno knew from the start that they were going to lose. Rufus was using the Life Stream against them, they had no materia, and Reno was still weak from Rude's attack.

Nevertheless, they put their all into it. It was the way Turks did things; once a Turk had decided on doing something, you'd be hard pressed to change their mind. And most of the time, what they decided to do was improbable, if not impossible.

Only minutes after the fight began, Rufus was standing over the pair, who were lying on the ground helpless after getting quite a barrage of negative Life Stream energy. Reno tried to get up only to fall again, and Rufus raised his hand to create the finishing blow.

Cloud…I'm sorry…

Suddenly Reno heard the sound of hooves again, and Rufus turned away, smirking as the horse approached. He didn't see Aeris on the horse's back till it was too late.

The combined power of Aeris and the summon wasn't what Rufus had been counting on. His eyes widened, and then the horse collided with him.

As quick as that, there was burst of blue-green light, and Rufus was gone. Not only that, but Reno felt revitalized, unbeatable, better than he'd ever felt.

"Aeris…how did you…" Rude started, and Aeris dismounted the horse with a smile, after which the creature disappeared.

"He pulled control from me to use the energy to fight you," Aeris explained softly. "I thought you might need some help."

"Thanks," Reno said, getting to his feet and helping Rude up. "Cloud and the others, are they…"

"Everyone is fine. They're all so strong," Aeris said. "But Cloud isn't well. He won't leave your side, Reno."

"So what he said…"

Aeris nodded. "It was true."

Rude cleared his throat. "You know, Reno…I still don't see this as acceptable."

"What?"

"You barging into my place uninvited. And you always cause trouble when you do it, too."

"But I-"

"Not only that, but this time you left a certain blonde all lonely to come here and bug me."

"I didn't-"

"Aeris, may I do the honors?"

Reno's eyebrow rose. "The honors of what?"

Aeris smiled and nodded. "Go ahead."

Rude smirked, and then picked Reno up by the collar of his shirt. "Throwing you out, like always. See you when it's your time, partner."

Before Reno could say another word, Rude turned and literally threw him...and everything went from white to black.

---

Vincent knew they were fighting a losing battle. With the Life Stream's power behind her, Aeris was simply unstoppable.

Come on, Reno, he thought a bit desperately, glancing over to where Cloud was still cradling the redhead's body in the water. Momentarily distracted, he wondered if Cloud would ever recover from this; at the moment he seemed utterly and completely crushed. He showed no sign of hearing them even when they called out his name.

"Vincent, look out!"

A blow knocked him back, straight through a pillar. By the time he started to push himself up, Aeris was standing over him, gathering energy to kill him.

Then, suddenly, she stopped. The energy dropped, her eyes widened, and in moments she was gone.

"What happened?" Barrett yelled, looking around, ready to fire wherever she happened to reappear.

"He did it. I can't believe he did it," Vincent said, looking to where Cloud held Reno.

There was a long moment of silence as everyone realized exactly what had happened.

Reno, a Turk, had given his life to save theirs.

Cloud looked up as Vincent stood and approached the pair.

"I didn't mean to kill him. I didn't want to," Cloud said softly.

"It's not your fault, Cloud. He just wanted to help us," Tifa said, kneeling in the water beside him. "He did it to save you."

Yuffie and Barrett exchanged confused looks, obviously oblivious to Cloud's feelings for the Turk. Vincent had figured it out long before even Cloud and Tifa realized it.

"I'd…I'd just told him, and…" Cloud started, but then he stopped and looked down at Reno with a frown. The Turk was glowing, a shimmering blue mako color. And as the glow got brighter, the wound in his chest began to simply fade away.

Impossible, Vincent thought, able to feel the Life Stream all around them, working its magic.

And then, Reno took a breath and opened his eyes.

Almost everyone present cried out in joy and disbelief as Reno blinked a few times, getting his eyes to focus- eyes that were now brighter, even more vibrant with mako energy.

"Reno?" Cloud asked softly, his eyes wide.

Reno half-laughed. "D-Damn, that was one helluva trip," he said, his voice weak. He tried to sit up, but only ended up falling back into Cloud's arms. "Rude says hi, by the way," he added, his eyes starting to fall closed again, though this time it was from exhaustion, not blood loss.

"We…we have to get him to a healer," Cloud said, standing up with Reno in his arms. Vincent shook his head.

"He's been to the best healer he could go to. What he needs now is rest."

---

Three nights later, Cloud found Reno out of bed, sitting on the roof of the house. In the far-off distance, fireworks marked some obscure holiday that hardly anyone celebrated.

"I can see you're feeling better," Cloud said, sitting down beside the redhead.

"Three days of sleeping and homemade soup will do that," Reno commented with a smirk, the fireworks lighting up his face. "You could make a fortune selling that stuff, you know."

Cloud chuckled. "I know," he said, and then he looked at Reno curiously. "What happened to Kocher? Yesterday he just…left."

"I signed the company over to him," Reno said with a shrug. "I'm a Turk. I'm not the political type. Me and that president thing, we didn't get along."

"I figured you'd do something like that," Cloud said. "But…what are you going to do now?"

Reno shrugged again, looking down at the ground below them. "I don't know. Try to find another job?"

"That'll be rough, the way things are right now."

"It's the only thing I can do, really," Reno said, a sudden wind blowing his bangs into his eyes.

"You know… I did hire a couple of delivery boys not long ago. For smaller, less important packages," Cloud said. "But both myself and these employees have been having trouble with muggers."

"…I'm not bein' a delivery boy for you."

"That's not what I'm offering. I want to offer you a job being our muscle. Assisting with deliveries and kicking ass on anyone who tries to interfere. This would include breaking up bar fights downstairs…or at least, disposing of those who start them."

Reno tilted his head at Cloud, obviously weighing the options. "What are we talking about, pay-wise?"

"Not nearly enough. But I have the feeling that the free room, board, and unlimited drinks at the bar should sweeten the deal. As long as you're sober while on duty."

Reno grinned. "You had me at unlimited drinks."

"Why do you think I threw that in?"

"You know me too well."

For a few minutes, they turned their attention back to the fireworks. The display was becoming grander with each moment, building toward the grand finale.

"Did you mean it? What you said before I…" Reno finally asked, and Cloud blushed.

"Yeah. I did."

"Well then, what the hell are you waiting on?"

"Wha-"

Cloud was stopped mid-word by Reno's lips pressing against his. He reached up, tentatively tangling one hand in the flaming red hair, and deepened the kiss.

Neither noticed when the fireworks display reached the grand finale.

Neither did they notice when Tifa stuck her head up through the trapdoor to take pictures with her cell phone camera.

- - - THE END - - -