Disclaimer: I don't own Reno, the Turks or Midgar. Those are all Square Enix's
Pre-chapter A/N: I reposted the chapter so it's a bit more streamlined, not so blocky. Don't really know how successful I was . . . I definitely think I've gotten better at this! In the latter chapters, Reno and Cam have undergone some character development, and the chapters are generally easier to read.
Reno walked out of his house, feeling hungry. There'd been nothing in their fridge but some spoiled milk and a jar with a small amount of jam in it. Reno had eaten the jam, drank a glass of tap water, and called it lunch. He was 5 years old, a scrawny boy who was tall for his age, his flaming red hair messy and unkempt.
Reno walked to the small broken-down play yard where he usually found other kids to socialize with, quickening his pace when he heard a commotion. It sounded like some of the older kids jeering at someone. "What's goin' on?" he asked another boy called Zidane. He shrugged "Nah, it's a girl from the whorehouse."
When he reached the yard, he saw a trio of kids who looked to be about 8 or 9, and they were circling an unfamiliar small girl, taunting her as she tried to take a little red ball from them. The girl was agitated, frowning and pleading "I want my ball back, come on, you promised you'd give it back". One of the boys spat "So what if we lied?" The second boy yanked at a lock of her black hair "Whatcha gonna do about it, sprat?" The girl seemed frightened when the last boy shoved her "Yeah, wanna do something 'bout it?" Reno felt bad for the girl, knowing that these kids bullied anyone smaller or weaker than they, and the girl doomed herself when she tried to run away.
The boys gave chase and again encircled her, now shoving her from one boy to the next. Her little ball lay forgotten in the dust. Reno knew it had never been the ball they'd been after, but the new girl to bother. She was crying now, and something about her fearful tears made Reno angry at the boys. "C'mon, she's just a little kid! Leave her alone!" he though, angrily. The kids stopped harassing the girl, and she fell to the dust, sniffling.
Only when Zidane muttered "oh, shit" and wandered away did Reno come to realize he'd spoken out loud. The kids headed towards Reno now, eyes slit maliciously. "Ooh, look, it's the Collins kid!" "Finally grew a backbone, Reno?" "Yah, I'm really scared now!" they taunted. Reno glared defiantly at them, and this angered them. The leader punched Reno on the mouth and the other two shoved him. The redhead fell on his butt to the floor, feeling scared but trying fiercely not to show it. He tasted blood in his mouth.
"Hey, stop it, you little shits!" a teenaged girl hissed at them, and the street urchins scattered. Reno spat out the blood in his mouth, watching the teen help the little girl up, brushing the dust off her legs. "Jeez, your mom would have kittens if she finds out you were about to get in a fight. Now stop crying!" The teen lectured, pulling the girl by the wrist. The little girl looked at Reno, smiling tentatively. Reno smiled back, but the teen had already left. He got up and dusted himself off, noticing she'd left her ball. He took it and followed, always a safe distance behind so the teen wouldn't chase him away.
She lived fairly close to Reno's own home, but he looked at her house apprehensively. He knew it was a whorehouse, a place men were constantly going in and out of. His own father sometimes visited it, and the ensuing fights between his parents had made Reno associate the brothel with feelings of anger, resentment and suspicion against the women living there.
Reno sighed unhappily, knowing unconsciously that the girl was most likely the bastard daughter of a prostitute and would eventually become one herself. Still, he wanted her to have her toy back; toys were hard to come by here in the slums. He waited for her to come back out, wandering around the part of the slum he was familiar with.
Eventually it turned to late afternoon. It was always dark in this section of the Sector 3 slums, but Reno knew what time it was when he heard the evening news come on the television. Reno hadn't seen the girl since, and decided to pass by her house once more before calling it a night. He heard someone call out "Hey, there he is!", and groaned when he saw the same 3 boys from earlier, looking even meaner than before.
Still, his father had once told Reno that running was the coward's way out, and that nobody would ever take him seriously or respect him if he ran. He had to hold his ground, even when he knew he was going to get beaten. He wasn't disappointed.
Several minutes later, the scuffle ended. Reno had given as good as he got, using his size and speed to his advantage. Everyone ended with bleeding mouths and noses. The fight had stopped because a Turk, accompanied by two armed MPs, was passing by. The kids stopped to stare, and the MPs waved them off, flanking the entrance to an old warehouse. The older kids ran away, knowing both Turks and MPs to be dangerous people.
The Turk went in silently, and as Reno began constructing gory imaginary scenarios of the Turk blasting gunshots onto an unlucky victim, he heard a small voice ask "Are you OK?" He nodded slightly, holding his aching head between his palms, and looked up to see who'd spoken to him.
It was the little girl, and she had to have the strangest, loveliest eyes he'd ever seen. They were a dark bluish purple, a color that was set off nicely by her dusky skin color. The girl helped Reno to his feet, and said "Thanks for helping me earlier. Those kids were mean." Reno nodded "Yeah, they're bullies. Here, I want you to have this back." He proffered the ball, the girl laughing delightedly "I though I'd lost it! Thank you!" Reno smiled "It's OK", but the girl had pulled him by the wrist to an alley behind the whorehouse.
She released him, saying "Stay here, I'll be right back", then ran into the brothel's front door. Reno leaned against the wall, feeling anxious, planning to leave if the girl didn't reemerge in 10 seconds. Suddenly the window right above his head banged open and the girl's head popped out. "Here, hold this" she instructed, holding out a big, paper wrapped sandwich and a cold bottle of juice. Reno took the items, eyeing them hungrily as the girl leapt out of the window.
She told Reno "That's my dinner. You can have half of it, I never eat the whole thing. Look, it's already cut in half, see?" Reno nodded and picked up his half, not having to be told twice. They ate quickly and silently, taking sips from the juice bottle by turns. When they were finished, they both heaved sighs of contentment. Then the girl asked "What's your name?" Reno puffed up his chest to look bigger and fearsome, proclaiming "The name's Reno!" She giggled, and Reno released the pent up air in a whoosh, "How 'bout you?" The girl smiled prettily at him "I'm Camryn, but everyone calls me Cammy."
Reno stood up from the box he'd been sitting on, saying "Well, I gotta go. I'm s'posed to be at home before 9." Cam looked sad, gathering the empty bottle and the paper wrappers "Oh. It's OK" she mumbled dejectedly. Reno then cheerily said "So, I'm gonna be at the yard tomorrow, if ya wanna hang out." Cam glanced at him "You wanna hang out with me?" Reno immediately forgot any apprehensions he might've had about befriending someone from the brothel when he saw the flare of hope in Cam's eyes. He nodded "Yeah. See ya tomorrow." Cam laughed and kissed Reno's cheek "Thanks, Reno! See you tomorrow!"
She climbed back into the window, waving cheerily at him. "Bye!" she called, then disappeared. Reno's cheeks matched his hair, and he sorely hoped she hadn't noticed. When she didn't pop back out the window anymore, Reno smiled to himself and headed home.
Their friendship began in this easy, unassuming way. They'd meet in the yard, or at the shabby little building that passed for a school. They'd play or talk with other kids, but never really lost sight of one another. Reno never truly knew kindness in his home, and seemed a bit shocked when Cam seemed perfectly happy in her own home.
She innocently told Reno funny little stories about her many 'sisters', who combed her hair and gave her little chocolates. Cam would also usually share her dinner with Reno, claiming she never ate it all. Reno shyly admitted he liked her eyes, and Cam told him she liked his freckles and his red hair, claiming to have never seen hair as red as his.
Things began to change when they were 7 years old. Reno had started working as a drug mule for his father several months earlier, transporting drugs and money among some of the more unsavory lesser criminals in the slum. As he began becoming more and more familiarized with the underground crime scene, he noticed an abrupt change in Cam.
She would seldom come to the play yard, and when she did she seemed sullen and depressed, staring into space and crying often. Reno missed her company, but she wouldn't tell him anything. He'd insisted, going to the alley behind the brothel and calling her softly. Sometimes she came out, sometimes she didn't.
Finally she'd come out one day, and had begun crying, at last telling Reno what was wrong. She told him what she was being made to do in the brothel, since now she was "old enough to turn a profit", as the brothel's owner put it. Reno had been sad and horrified for his friend, and tried to comfort her as best he could. Still, her depression lasted several months, and eventually stopped going either to school or the play yard, as the older kids' usual teasing turned brutal once they learned she'd been "broken in to the family business".
Reno got in several fights, always sticking up for her whether she was there to see or not. He wanted to protect her somehow, this girl who'd shown him friendship and kindness without ever seeming to ask for anything in return. Eventually she got better, the depression lifted as she grew somewhat resigned to her current situation. Much to Reno's delight, she started spending time in the yard again, sticking up for herself against the teasing, which had tapered off considerably due to Reno's doing.
They were each other's best friend, confidant and playmate. He was her guardian, she his angel. He made her feel safe, she made him feel loved. When life had been particularly cruel to either of them, the other would make the effort to help and make the other feel better. They never lost sight of one another, even at times when they drifted apart. They'd always find each other again, a pattern that would repeat throughout their childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
Author's note: Here we go! That's my OC; hopefully you'll like reading her, at least half as much as I like writing her. This will mostly be Reno and Cam centric, sometimes together, sometimes apart, with the rest of the Turks and the execs in ShinRa Company (and probably another female OC; I mean, c'mon! There's only 5 females including Scarlet, and like 14 males) making several appearances throughout. And yes, the subjects described here will be very harsh. Abusive parents, child labor and prostitution, drug, alcohol and sex themes against minors. I intend to capture the gritty, nasty aspects of growing up in a very deprived environment to better illustrate Reno and Cam's motivations later on. Anyway, let me know what you think.