Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII

Warnings: Tissue, Torture

Mindless Babble:

Rude blinked as he became painfully aware of his surroundings. His flashlight illuminated the still falling rocks once been the caves entrance. Now, the sudden cave-in had made this place a tomb for him and his partner.

The thought of the fiery redhead caused Rude to sit up in a panic. He reached for the flashlight, screaming in agony as he found out the hard way that his shoulder was dislocated. He scooted forward, grabbing the light with his other hand and swept the area. His heart sank as he realized he was alone.

Rude struggled to push down the fear that was starting to cloud his mind. He tried to remember what had happened. They had been dispatched along with Tseng and Elena to check out claims of bigger then normal monsters that seemed to be emerging from these caves. They had partnered as usual- Rude with Reno, Tseng with Elena- and gone on their merry way. The day passed and Tseng reported an all clear in their sector. Rude was just about to inform him that they were on their way out of the last cave when it happened.

What had started as low sounding groan quickly grew to a thundering roar. The two men raced towards daylight as rock fell around them. Rude suddenly found himself flying forward, pushed from behind. It had been that push that had saved him from being buried. But how had that affected his partner?

"Reno!" No answer. Rude tried again but only his own echo answered him. He kept screaming his partner's name, unwilling to accept the possibility that Reno might have been buried under the pile of rocks. Finally, sobs of despair overtook him. So lost in his grief, he almost missed the soft choking sound coming from the wall of rock behind him.

"Rude?"

Tears of loss instantly became tears of joy. "I'm here Ren! Gaia, it's good to hear your voice! How ya doing?"

A fit of coughing answered him. Rude was instantly at the wall, frantically digging with his bare hands. He almost realized too late that the wall was the only thing keeping them alive. A mini collapse brought him back to his senses.

"Ren? You okay?" he yelled fearfully.

A few dry coughs preceded the actual answer. "Yeah, I'm still here. Wouldn't try that again, though, yo."

Rude chuckled through the tears. "Sorry about that; not thinking straight. Somebody pushed me head first into a rock wall…"

A faint bark of laughter came from the other side of the stone divider. "Well, excuse me for saving your ass!"

Rude shook his head, smiling. "Thanks, man.'

"No problem." The older man could hear the smile. "So what do we do now?"

"Tseng and Elena know where we are. We just have to wait for them to come dig us out."

A few moments passed in silence before Rude heard soft laughter. He looked up to find a small crack at the very top of the cave-in was allowing them to talk. "Ren?"

"Just thinking about how much this feels like sector seven."

Rude's eyebrows rose in surprise. "This is what it was like for you?"

"Sorta… It was a bit lonelier, though."

Rude snorted in amusement before memories of that day flooded his brain. "Man, I remember pulling your body out of the rubble. You were barely breathing and there was more blood on you then in you. Then you completely stopped breathing…" Rude choked, the remembered feelings slamming back into him; the fear, loss, pain…

"It's okay Rude. I survived." There was a long pause before Reno spoke again. "What happened? I mean, I thought the plan was to just scare them. I would push the button and, at the last second, Tseng would stop it. But then I was suddenly falling, bleeding out from the beating I took from Strife and his buddies. Then I remember waking up at Shinra Med with you and Tseng all freaked out…"

Rude heard the strain in his partner's voice and winced. He knew how much Reno had suffered under the President's rule. Any mission that didn't go exactly as planned was enough of an excuse to have Reno brought into his office and beaten to within an inch of his life. Then he would use a cure materia to erase any visible injury that wasn't covered by the Turks clothing.

Rude would have never found out about these "punishments" if he hadn't playfully slapped his partner on the back the night after, what he though was a successful mission. Reno had fallen to his knees, a strangled cry escaping a throat already raw from what had preceded the beating. Without bothering to ask, Rude had scooped up his partner and hauled him to their shared office…

-the past-

Reno tried to push away from his partner but didn't have the strength. Rude peeled the shirt off the slender body and suddenly felt nauseous. The skin that was hidden by Reno's shirt had actually been glued to the fabric by blood. The redhead crossed his arms over his chest in a futile attempt to cover some of the bruises and still open wounds.

"Who did this to you?" Rude breathed, unable to fully comprehend the mass of pain that had been inflicted on his partner.

"Can't tell you. Can we just pretend you never saw this, yo?" Reno asked, staring at the floor. He didn't want his partner to see how humiliated he really was.

"No. Why can't you tell me?" Rude asked, irritated that Reno wasn't telling him anything.

The normally loud and obnoxious voice barely rose above a whisper. "He'll kill you…"

A scowl darkened already dark features. "Who?"

Reno shook his head, eyes widening in fear for, not of, his partner. "NO! I can't! He'll kill you and…"

Rude pulled his hyperventilating partner into a gentle hug. He felt his heart break as the body he held was wracked with sobs; slender hands that could easily break a full grown man's neck without a thought clinging to the dark fabric of Rude's jacket.

"He…he'll kill you slow and make…make me watch," Reno stuttered softly.

"Who?" Rude demanded.

Reno just shook his head, burying it in his partner's solid chest, silently asking for forgiveness.

"He'll never tell you." The unexpected voice caused Rude to turn, pushing Reno behind him.

"Why not?" His eyes warned the other man to keep his distance.

"Because the one who ordered this is the same one you're sworn to protect."

Rude looked at the Wutaian man suspiciously. At 5'7", he stood about the same height as his partner but was built more like Rude himself. Short hair that that should have been the same color as his eye had been dyed orange. He looked to be about 20 years old and according to his insignia on his shoulder, he was a class 4 in SOLDIER.

"Who are you and how do you know that?" Rude asked.

"My name is Ji Lee and I was one of the SOLDIERS hired to do that to him."

A growl escaped Rude's throat as he took a step towards the man. A slender hand wrapped around his arm, stopping him. Shaded eyes stared into Mako blue green orbs.

"No, Rude. He actually helped me. Knocked me out before I started to scream."

"That's helping?"

Reno smiled slightly at the incredulous tone in his partner's voice. "For me, yeah it was." He turned to the young man. "Doesn't look like you'll be invited back to the party though."

Ji touched the bridge of his nose gingerly. A pair of black eyes were beginning to blossom, proving that his nose had been broken. "That's quite alright. Didn't know what I was getting into the first place. Brought a first aid kit though."

Rude nodded and the kid stepped forward, closing the door before joining the pair. The SOLDIER helped the Turk bandaged the younger Turk. They took turns holding Reno's arms to keep him from lashing out in pain. In the end, Rude had counted 54 lacerations, 32 bruises, three broken ribs and a possible cracked shoulder blade not to mention the concussion.

Rude watched his partner sleep fitfully on the couch. The redhead had passed out as soon as they had set him down there. Ji had covered him with a blanket that usually resided on the back of the said furniture while Rude left to borrowed a pillow from Tseng. When he had returned, the leader of the Turks was with him. The three men now leaned on Rude's solid oak desk.

"This is seriously messed up, Tseng," Rude commented, watching as Reno curled in on himself. "I don't understand why he even did it."

"The President claimed that the last mission that the three of you were on didn't go exactly as planned. That's all he needs to drag in Turk Reno," Ji said softly, from Rude's left. "He even had special compartments built into the floor and walls to hide the restraints."

"That man has reached a whole new level of low." Tseng shook his head. "The only thing we can do is make sure any future missions go perfectly or, if they don't, make sure we don't leave Reno alone for any amount of time. The President won't take him with a witness standing there."

Both Rude and Ji nodded. The Turks looked questioningly at the young man. Ji shrugged.

"I'll help as much as I can for as long as I can."

-the present-

"Rude?"

The man was startled out of his memories. "Sorry, Ren. Just got lost in thought.

"You asked what happened. We were betrayed…"