Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Between the Lines ❯ The View from the Bottom ( Chapter 12 )

Between the Lines

 

Description: What happened to Reno and Rude in Advent Children during the times they were off camera. How and why they showed up where they did when they did. Rated T for language and descriptions of torture.

 

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and its characters are the property of Square-Enix. Everything in this fic is just speculation on my part. I have no insider information. I also have no money, so suing me would be pointless.

 

Twelve: The View from the Bottom

 

Rude lay on his back, gazing up at the cloudy sky, and mentally listed all the ways Reno had abused him since they had entered the square. He had smacked him in the nose upon seeing the enormous monster that had appeared, had nearly smacked him a second time running from said monster, had dropped a huge sign on his head, had then dropped himself on his head, had stepped on and shattered his sunglasses, had knocked him over when Kadaj had dropped out of the sky, and had finally kicked him off the wall to the street where he currently rested.

 

Rude deeply wished he had a gun. He had such a lovely view of Reno's hind end, and one well-placed bullet would bring such satisfaction. Of course, Rude would never actually do that to his partner, but after what he had suffered, he certainly deserved a moment to dream.

 

The sharp click of heels on pavement roused Rude from his ruminations. He picked himself up and brushed off his sleeves as Elena approached. "Good to see you again," he said when she was within earshot.

 

"Same here," she replied. She rested her fists on her hips and lifted her blonde head to watch Reno ascending the side of the building like some sort of insect. Rude surreptitiously flicked his eyes over her face and body; apart from a slight dark color underneath her eyes, he could not tell that anything out of the ordinary had happened to her. Pleased, he nodded to himself.

 

They stood side by side for a moment; then Elena said, "A hundred gil says he falls."

 

"Elena," Rude replied with disapproval, "I am not in the habit of making bets that hinge on a colleague undergoing bodily harm."

 

"Okay."

 

They watched a while more. Reno had reached the intersection of nets where Rufus rested and was trying to help the President move onto one and slide down. Rufus clearly disapproved of this plan, and their disagreement had caused the nets to begin to sway. Without moving her eyes from the scene above them, Elena spoke again.

 

"Two hundred says he takes the President with him."

 

"Done."

 

In the end, Tseng intervened with a zipcord and harness, so Rude and Elena agreed to consider the bet null and void.

 

Once all four Turks and their boss had their feet securely on the ground, they took a moment to review the situation. Kadaj had Jenova. This was not a good thing. Cloud had chased him, which improved matters, but it was still one to three. And at least one of those three would shortly become powerful enough to send them all on a one-way trip to the Lifestream. They had watched the airship with Cloud's friends fly off earlier, but Rude doubted they would be much help and Rufus voiced the same opinion. As such, the President's decision came as no surprise.

 

"Rude, Reno, go after them and at the very least take out Yazoo and Loz. I think we can safely leave Kadaj to Cloud, especially without the other two to worry about."

 

"Yes, sir," both men answered nearly in unison. Then Reno added in a strained voice, "On foot, sir?"

 

"Of course not," Rufus snapped. Reno shrank back obediently, but Rude could see the massive relief behind the dutiful fear. "Take the chopper. Otherwise you'll never even find them."

 

"Tseng and I brought the car, sir," Elena cheerily interjected.

 

"Good. Drive them to the helipad and then come back. Tseng, go up and fetch my wheelchair down."

 

"Yes, sir," Tseng replied smoothly as if he existed only to fetch things. An expression of admiration lifted the corners of Rude's mouth. Tseng could walk from one end of Hell to the other and emerge completely unruffled, every feather perfectly in place.

 

"Come on, you two," Elena ordered, the chirrup in her voice gone. "You have a couple of bugs to squash."

 

"Wonderful," Reno muttered. Rude turned his eyes to his partner and found a fair amount of anxiety in his face. Not surprising. Their previous attempt to take care of Yazoo and Loz had failed quite miserably. But Rude had no intention of fighting fair a second time.

 

"I need to get a few things from the armory," he told Elena. To Reno, he said, "Come pick me up there."

 

Elena shrugged. "Okay. Whatever. Come on, Reno, get your skinny ass in gear."

 

"You want the rest of me to come too, or just my ass?"

 

"I don't want any of you to come. If I had my way, I'd hang you up on one of those beams by that ratty ponytail of yours."

"Ha! I knew you had some S&M in you, you whore."

 

"What?! Say that again!"

 

"Nah, I like my teeth. I'll drive by the way."

 

"Like hell you will …"

 

Rude walked away, shaking his head. Things were definitely back to normal.

 

Fifteen minutes later, Rude stood outside the armory, cradling two cylindrical objects as he watched the chopper touch down. He absently stroked one with a thumb. On his way to the building, he had been steadfast in his resolve to use them, but once he had picked them up in his hands, he had wavered. Surely a different set would do; he could keep his little ones for a more special occasion. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that they were the finest and that no other future scene would ever be as dramatic or as appropriate as this one.

 

Reno whistled from the pilot's seat as Rude climbed in. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" He reached out to take a bomb, but Rude held them away.

 

"No. Not until we get there. I don't want to risk you blowing us up by setting it off prematurely."

 

Reno's lips puckered in a practiced pout. "That was ages ago," he whined. "Haven't you heard of forgive and forget?"

 

"I've forgiven you, Reno, but for my own well-being I have no intention of forgetting."

 

The pout morphed into a familiar grin. "Fair enough." He turned to the controls and lifted them up into the air.

 

They had no trouble finding the four bikes, zooming along Midgar's abandoned highways at utterly insane speeds. As they watched, the lead bike peeled off to a parallel road, leaving the remaining three to battle on without it. Through the chopper's set of binoculars, Rude confirmed that their prey remained on the lower road.

 

"And they're heading for that tunnel," Rude continued, pointing ahead.

 

"All right then, we'll land on the other side and wait. Sound like a plan?"

 

"Indeed."

 

Reno grinned wickedly, and Rude could not resist an evil smile of his own. "Rude, my friend, time to blow up some silver-headed ass."

 

"A completely mixed metaphor, Reno, but I agree with the sentiment whole-heartedly."