Wow, has it been over a year?

I truly want to apologize to anyone and everyone who still has/is reading this fic. I took an unexpected hiatus from the internet altogether. My mother was diagnosed with cancer, as some of you know, I've moved three times, and had multiple set backs. The few times I have gotten on I have not had the desire to anything but check my e-mail. I saw people were still watching, hell, even faving this fic. Then I got an e-mail from a loyal watcher and it kick started my drive again. This story is FAR from over, these brothers have a lot to go through before their story ends, consider this a warm up chapter. I don't want to commit to a time frame, but with things settling down, I will be making the effort to update at least once a month, if not more frequent, if I become lax, please kick me in the butt. My AIM is burningxcascade, please feel free to IM me and kick me in the shins.

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Fuckityfuckfuck.

As profane as it was, that was all Lea's mind was capable of at the moment.

He stared up at the infuriated, intoxicated eyes of his father. He was going to kill him, the boy could see it. Snyder had never been a loving man, not to him, to Reno, or their mother. He only cherished his syringes that took him away from his misery for a few hours. All the pent up rage, it was coming out now. Lea saw it in that tightly bound fist.

Before he even had a moment to react Lea found himself on the ground, being pummeled by the shadow of a man he once called 'daddy'.

"After all I've fuckin' done for ya, ya little snot nosed bastard!!" Snyder snarled at the top of his strung out lungs. "After all I've done, yer just gonna fuckin' leave!! I'll bury your ass in the backyard before I let you leave, boy! If I have to suffer, SO DO YOU!!"

Smash!

Lea gagged as blood began to pool in his throat. Goddamn it, his nose was broken, his eye lids were starting to bruise and swell to the point of closure. He was going to die here…

"Leave him alone you big asshead!!" the small determined voice of Reno demanded.

There was another crashing sound that the older Maero couldn't quite identify, followed by a tense silence "R-reno? Reno!" he called out in the hazy world of their bedroom.

"Up here, Lea!" the small boy waved from the ceiling, the reminisce of a lamp clutched in his hand. Lea stared up at the child, jaw slacked in disbelief.

Well, hot damn. Jenova had made Reno fucking Spider-man. His little brother was crawling on the smooth surface of the roof with no problem, using the pads of his heels and palms for 'gripping'.

"Yo, get down Reno, quick!" Lea snorted as the blood poured from his nose.

"Heh, ok!" Reno giggled and pulled his goggles over his eyes "Catch me, weee!" the boy laughed and allowed himself to plummet from the ceiling.

"Shit!!" Lea cried, flailing to catch Reno with opened arms "Goddamn, don't do that" he scolded lightly, pinching his nose to prevent it from bleeding anymore.

"Lea, we gotta get you to the clinic!" the smaller boy cried, seeing how injured his beloved brother had become. "Dr. Pinkstaff can fix ya right up, yo!". The clinic was one of the very, very few places those who lived in the slums could receive basic medical care, such as setting broken bones and stitches.

"No time" the taller red head snorted, sending surges of excess blood from his nostrils down to the rotting wooden floor "We gotta get to the train, remember? We gotta get outta here while we still can" Lea crouched on his knees for a moment to start bundling Reno up in his over sized jacket and sweater, preparing him for the treck.

"B-but…" the six year old sniffled, his innocent blue eyes growing wide and fearful "W-what about mommy? Lea…I'm scawed.." Reno confessed as his bottom lip began to quiver.

It was at this moment Lea stopped and stared at his brother. He looked so small and fragile, and he was…breaking. The older Maero immediately hugged Reno close to him, stroking the back of his red head as he cried.

"Shh, Shh….Reno…listen, listen to me, yo…" Lea started softly, still holding and petting his brother "We can't help Mom and Pops anymore. They're grown ups, and they gotta live with their bad ideas and bad choices, but we shouldn't have to suffer just cause they ain't got two cents in their brains" he gently pulled Reno away so he could look him in the tear stained eyes

Goddamn, this was some hard shit to handle.

"I know it's scary, Reno. I'm kinda scared too, if ya want the truth" Lea confessed softly "But ya know what? I'm gonna have you there with me, and because'a that, I know in my heart…it'll be ok. We'll make it, and we'll get to sleep in a warm bed with a REAL mattress and blankets"

"And have…t-toys?" Reno sniffled, rubbing the last of his sadness away with his over sized sleeves.

"Hell yeah there will be toys" his older brother smiled and nodded "That'll be the first thing I do with my money, I'll buy you the best toys I can find, but before we do that, we gotta get there, and that means we gotta leave here and we gotta leave here quick before---"

"FREEZE! SOLDIER!" stern voices ordered from the front of the house, the pounding of thick military boots resonating down the hall.

"Come on Reno, come on!!" Lea urged as he nearly tossed his little brother onto his back and slung the duffle bag over his shoulder, which partially held Reno to him.

No, why the hell did his ankle have to start hurting?

Motherfucker.

Lea jumped out his window and landed with a 'thud' on the ground before bolting as fast as his injured body would take him. He cut through all the back alleys and covered his tracks as best as he could in the time frame he had. Before long, soft flurries of pollution ridden snow began to trickle down upon them.

It didn't matter. Nothing matter now. It was just him and Reno and they were so close to freedom that it made Lea want to cry. His brother deserved a better life, a better shot at being…

SOMETHING.

A better shot at not being like him. A slum rat who had to steal, cheat, and lie.

No fucking way. If Lea had any say, Reno would grow up to be a doctor, or better yet, a pilot, so he could see other continents, like Spira. He'd heard it was such a beautiful place…

"Lea watch out!" Reno cried, yanking back on Lea's bright red hair like it were reigns and he were a horse.

"WHOA!!" the eleven year old boy shrieked. He skid across the icey ground, trying to dig his heels in to stop himself before he plowed into some trashcans, but it was too late, he hadn't been paying attention.

WHAM.

Lea found himself flat on his face in the pile of garbage. The smell was the worst damn thing he'd ever experience, the remnants of rotting….whatever, covering his face and clothes. It was too much, it was all too much.

"God fucking damnit.." the boy choked out as he began to sob.

"Wassa matter, Lea??" Reno asked, having managed to hop off his brother's back. He crouched down on his hands and knees and tilted his little head to better look at his brother.

"I can't…I can't do this Reno" Lea choked, tears leaking over his frozen cheeks "I hurt from where that b-bastard beat me, I'm starving, I'm cold and exhausted…I'm…scared"

Any six year old in his position would have been fed by the fires of the uncharacteristic insecurity of their older brother, but Reno did not. Slowly he helped Lea sit up and brushed off his clothes "It's gonna be ok, yo" he stated simply.

Puzzled, Lea couldn't help but forget his misery for a moment and sat back on his knees to stare down at the small child before him "It is?" he asked curiously.

Smiling happily, Reno nodded and reached into the inside pocket of his sea of jackets and pulled out the still living flower they had plucked from the meteor crash site days before and handed it to Lea.

The older boy delicately took the plant, turning it over in his fingertips. The softness of the petal never ceased to amaze him and it was then he realized, that in all his years of seeing Reno as this fragile, breakable human being, he had forgotten about his own emotional mortality. It was impossible for him to take all this by himself, he needed someone…

He needed Reno.

"You can do it, Lea" the smaller Maero boy smiled and leaned up to meep his brother's nose "Got it memorized? Now, let's get to that train!'