Title: Scars of Friendship
Chapter: 5/50
Comments: Yeah, the world ate my life. You can read about that here: grownupneko(dot)livejournal(dot)com(slash)54204(dot)html. This chapter was fuelled by cigarettes and chocolate. Not a happy chapter. Short too.

Chapter Five:

Reno's Greatest Sin

"I can't do this..." one man said, his hands shaking on the keyboard of his computer. Reeve glanced at him. No... You probably can't, but you will have to.

"It's the Turks job to do the dirty deed. You just have to sit back and watch it happen," he said, wondering if that was really much reassurance. It wasn't, not really. Reeve's own hands were clammy. He'd been sick twice in the bathroom in the last hour. What the President was suggesting... It wasn't human. No human could propose a measure likethis.

"Why are we doing this?" another asked. Reeve swallowed, another wave of nausea rising in his throat.

"The President has ordered it," he replied. There was silence for a long moment.

"But why?"

Reeve wished he knew. He'd asked, but vague answers came from the President. He seemed determined to squash AVALANCHE, perhaps even more so since Rufus had woken out in Junon. Not that the other was much of a threat. Waking from a coma tended to leave one rather weak.

But the President seemed to think it was vital that AVALANCHE be extinguished, once and for all. Perhaps it was the reactor explosions? They had been rather large. It would seem like a response to that, if anyone ever found out the truth...

"He mentioned wanting to kill a specific member during the briefing," the first man said, so quietly that it seemed he didn't want to be heard. Reeve folded his arms. He was going to have to grab the waste bin in a minute. He could feel his throat tightening.

"Who on Gaia could put the fear of the Promised Land into Rufus Shinra though?" mused the second. Reeve inched towards the bin.

As he wretched dryly into it he thought to himself: Yes, who indeed...

Elfé wrinkled her nose up. At least the PVC didn't allow the grime to stick to it the way that Tifa's dress soaked up the crud. She climbed up the ladder, trying not to breathe in too much. The monster had been expected, the wave of sewage that followed it, not so much. She held out a hand to Tifa to help her to the top and they sat there for a moment, panting.

"Where was Cloud?" Tifa asked, looking up at the trap door they'd fallen through.

"I can only hope he saved Aerith and ran for it," Elfé replied. Tifa nodded, but her red eyes were still troubled. Adventuring with Tifa all alone... but this is hardly the romantic ideal... Why do I always get myself into these situations?

"Tifa... We should keep moving. We have to warn the others about the Plate," she said, standing up and brushing herself off. Tifa got to her feet as well, stretching out her shoulders.

"There's bound to be monsters under here. We'd better be careful," she said, wringing the sewage from her hair with a grimace. Elfé nodded, drawing her blade carefully. She guessed she was lucky that her 'Mistress' garb had allowed her to smuggle it in in the first place. She promised herself she'd clean it so well it sparkled like a mirror once they were out of this place.

"Let's move out," Elfé said, starting to jog down the side of the sewer in search of a ladder to the surface. Tifa followed her, matching her pace. She'd broken off her heels to be able to run better, Elfé noticed. A shame, they'd been nice shoes.

"Do you think... Cloud and Aerith will get together?" Tifa asked after they'd been travelling through the dank, dark for a while. Elfé didn't stop running, though she did glance at Tifa. Was the other... infatuated with Cloud? It had been insinuated more than once that they were childhood friends and...

"I think Aerith has a ghost that won't let her... and I think Cloud is far from being well enough to make those kinds of commitments," she said. Tifa was watching where she put her feet as she ran, so it was hard to see if Elfé's comment had affected her.

"I hope... I hope we find a lead on Zack soon. To put that ghost to rest for her. Kunsel too," Tifa continued. She was slightly out of breath now, sweat appearing on her neck and legs. Elfé did her best not to look at the girl's chest as she ran.

"Was Kunsel... involved with Zack?" Elfé asked. Tifa did look up then and shook her head.

"From what I can gather, Zack was a ladykiller. I don't think that he was interested in men too," she said before looking away to scout for another ladder.

"That doesn't answer the question for Kunsel though. He could have been very interested in Zack. It would explain the obsession with trying to find him," she said. Tifa had begun climbing a ladder and Elfé followed after her. With her nose so close to Tifa's bare legs she could smell the disgusting stuff they'd waded through even more strongly.

"I think... he's guilty. Guilty he couldn't save Cloud. Then guilty he couldn't save Zack either," Tifa pushed hard at the cover above her head. It eventually gave, letting fresh air onto their faces. Elfé sighed in relief and followed Tifa up.

They were in the train graveyard. Elfé recognised it immediately. She gestured for Tifa to follow her. She knew this area. They'd be able to get to the Plate in time for sure.

"Guilt... There's plenty of that going around these days."

Cloud grit his teeth. This was no good.

"Fall back! You have to fall back!" he yelled. Behind him Aerith was healing Biggs. Further on up he could hear Barret still firing away, wasting his ammo. He ground his teeth as he imagined how much damage to the structure Barret was doing on his own.

"We should concentrate on an evacuation! This is a losing battle!" he shouted. He knew he was being ignored though. The moment Biggs was healed he was on his feet and back to firing at the Shinra soldiers on the stairs. There was a spark in their eyes. They'd die to do this. They'd happily die here trying to stop Shinra doing the unspeakable.

Cloud looked to Aerith and shook his head. He'd stay here too then. If there was a way to stop this, he was sure he'd be more use than Barret or Wedge would be. He put his hand on Aerith's shoulder.

"Go and evacuate everyone. Get Marlene. Get everyone out. Scream from the rooftops what Shinra is doing here... and for God's sake don't get shot," he said. Aerith looked at him from beneath her bangs with terrified green eyes that looked like they'd seen a ghost. She nodded, thin lipped.

"Cloud... you better not die. It would be like... like losing him again," she said. Cloud didn't need to ask who. He leaned forward, kissing her on the cheek like he would a sister. She looked so scared and vulnerable, he didn't know what else to do.

"Be safe, Aerith," he said before pulling away and drawing his sword, walking a few steps away. He glanced back. "No go. Get everyone out of here. I'm heading up top. I've got a Turk to take on."

Rufus looked up from the email with a sick feeling in his gut. It was a simple enough order. Return to Midgar, deal with some press issues... Nothing he wasn't up to. But the reason... the reason...

His father was destroying Sector 7 as he sat there, drinking Herta's special 'Nibel Martini' and watching two middle-aged women argue about what a character should do in a soap opera. His fingers twitched on the keys, wondering if he should tell the old man to go fuck himself.

He read through the report he was meant to put out. Blame it on AVALANCHE. The usual bullshit of blaming others for Shinra's discretions. Rufus' fingers paused on the down key. Who was dropping the Plate?

It could only be...

Rufus picked up the phone from his side. He hit the speed dial. A few moments later the line went dead. Tseng had hung up on him without answering. Rufus felt a chill go through his entire body. He used the next speed dial he had.

The line connected.

"Yo Tseng! This isn't a good time! I've got some bitch with a fucking gun-arm here who thinks he's hot stuff!" Reno's voice filtered down the line, with the sound of gunfire. Reno was breathing heavily and Rufus could make out the sound of the Turk's activated baton, the thin whine of electricity.

"This is not Tseng," Rufus said. He heard Reno's breath hitch on the other side.

"Sorry Boss. It's still not a good time," he said. Rufus thought of the last time he'd spoken to Reno.

"We'll look after you, love... Don' worry, yo."

"I order you to stop this mission," he said, trying to put as much emphasis in his voice as he could. Herta was looking at him from across the room now.

"I would, Boss, but it's... Listen, you know if I die here? Will you come to my funeral, yo? I'm going to have 'Here lies Reno: Died young with some guy's gun up his arse'," he replied. Rufus guessed that Reno was trying to skirt around the issue of disobeying orders from the President.

"Reno. I order you to withdraw from Sector 7 immediately. You will not drop that Plate," he said. Reno couldn't be afforded wriggle room.

"I wish I could follow that order Boss, but it's kind of like an orgasm up here, yo. We're past the point of no return. We ain't gonna be walking past AVALANCHE any time soon, even in retreat. Best to go with a big climax..." Reno trailed off and Reno heard a clang and a cut off scream.

"I can't believe you're comparing the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent people to sex," Rufus said disdainfully. He heard Reno's sharp bark of laughter from the other end of the line.

"No... I think this was the straw that broke the chocobo's back. I think I'm insane now, yo," he said. At that moment there was a scream and Rufus heard Reno's breath catch again.

"You're the Turk from the Church!" he heard someone shout. The voice sounded familiar.

"Shit. Talk to ya later Boss... You know, if I don't have a coffin specially made so that a six foot Buster Sword can stick out the top-" the line cut out.

Rufus felt the phone slip from his grasp. He got to his feet and started pacing. He'd failed... He'd failed to convince Reno to stop. What did that mean? It meant... It meant...

"Herta. Don't watch the news for a few days," he said. "It's... nothing pleasant will be on it."

Reno cursed as he felt the Buster Sword skim a blow against his ribs. Strife was shocking with that blade, but with the size of it even a glancing blow was damaging. He gripped his baton hard. This... this couldn't happen.

He didn't want to drop the Plate. He didn't want to kill a ton of innocents over a stupid political war. He didn't want... this wasn't... What happened to Turk's honour? What happened to fucking respect for them as people? Did the President really not care? Turning a Turk, someone who worked in the Slums, into a tool for genocide?

Cloud's eyes were blazing, blue mako and the old fighting spirit burning so fiercely in his eyes that Reno wondered if he'd gone half mad too. The whole word gone fucking insane. It sounded about right. It had started with Sephiroth and spiralled from there...

No that wasn't right. Sephiroth had been a product of the world gone insane. It had started with fucking Hojo.

"Cloud!" Reno groaned. More back-up. He saw Elfé and Tifa, both of them covered in shit from head to toe. They were battle-ready though and they fell into step behind Cloud. The ex-Turk didn't even acknowledge them. Reno backed up a few more paces, feeling the control console pressing against the back of his legs.

He dropped his hand, knowing that the button was there that would end all this. He saw them all watching him, their gaze focused on that hand that was so hesitant on the button.

"I'm just followin' orders. It's nothing personal," he said, the words tasting bitter in his mouth. Those words he'd said before. Words he'd said laced with betrayal.

"Nothin' personal! There are kids down there! Ol' people! What d'you mean nothin' personal?" Barret shouted. He had his gun arm raised but it had long since run out of bullets. Reno felt sweat run down the back of his neck.

"It'll be a new kill record for me I guess," he said. "But I guess it'll never be officially recorded..." he saw Elfé's eyes narrow. She was close to just throwing her sword at him, he could see it. They were all afraid to move though, afraid that any sudden movement would make Reno push the button.

He was waiting for them to kill him. Once the signal came it would be too late.

Kill me... For fuck's sake kill me! You insane fuckers what are you waiting for? A fucking invitation? I facilitated all this! I helped all this fucking happen, yo! This whole mess is my fucking fault from Nibelheim to now! DO SOMETHING!

The signal came.

Reno pushed the button.

Cloud sat in the playground with a shell-shocked expression. It wasn't as bad as the others though. Elfé and Tifa were trying to comfort Barret but they couldn't know whether or not she escaped or not.

And the Turks had Aerith. Cloud had seen her, bound and gagged in the helicopter behind Tseng. Reno had hopped on out of there, remorseless for the lives he'd extinguished. He'd thrown a cigarette butt from the open door and spat down, a final libation to Sector 7 before it was crushed.

"Who's alive?" Elfé asked, turning around. There was a handful of refugees sat around, some dry-eyed, staring at the rubble, some wailing as they tried to pull at the rubble to find survivors.

"We've got five," Tifa replied. She sat down beside Cloud, leaving Barret to stare at the wreckage. "Me, you, Cloud, Barret and Kunsel."

Cloud looked up at the ex-SOLDIER. He wasn't looking particularly concerned about events, but there was a downturn to his mouth as he watched the refugees. His hands were clenched in fists. Cloud guessed he was channelling anger rather than grief. He hadn't, admittedly, lost any relatives.

"It's enough. We need to get to Aerith's house," Elfé said firmly. Cloud looked up at her, frowning.

"Why?" he asked. Elfé looked at Barret.

"It's the only place where we might find Marlene alive... and... we need a place to think of a strategy to help Aerith," she said. Cloud was on his feet in an instant.

"You're still thinking of taking on Shinra? Have you been watching? They'll crush us! We don't have this kind of manpower to take them on!" he yelled, gesturing behind him to the destroyed Sector. "Do you have any idea what you're taking on?"

"I know what I'm doing," Elfé said quietly. "I don't care if it's a suicide mission. I have to rescue her. She's... important."

"I have an obligation to as well. I would not be forgiven if something happened to her," Kunsel said, walking to Elfé's side. Cloud grit his teeth. This was insane. This was worse than insane.

"I want to see an air-tight plan before we just wander into Shinra HQ," he said. Elfé smiled and her posture relaxed a little.

"That's what you're there for. Use the walk to Aerith's house to massage your least used muscle and come up with something viable," she said. Cloud glared at her, but already he was estimating how many floors Shinra HQ had. For some reason he seemed to know how many floors there were roughly... And the kinds of things they might need to break into there... and how they might get around inside.

"Barret... we're going to go find Marlene now," Tifa said, getting to her feet. She was still covered in sewage, dressed in clothes from Don Corneo's and now had a layer of white dust coating her. They all did. Barret turned to her dumbly, following her as she led the way out of the playground and towards Sector 5.

"We're counting on you kid," Kunsel said softly as he turned to follow too. Cloud just stared at him.

Since when was he the leader?

The smoke crept up the staircase of Shinra HQ. Step after step. The darkness gathered in corners, wafted under doorways, tendrils seeking, seeking, seeking.

Finally it found what it was looking for. A familiar stench. It coiled, and wrapped, layer after layer, sinew after sinew.

It became solid.

It became a blur of silver and black against the dull grey office hallways.