Chapter Text
It’s supposed to be an in-and-out mission.
Get in, grab Aerith, get out. Sure, the girl might bitch and moan, might put up a bit of a fight, but with the Plate coming down and Reactors blowing up left and right, the Ancient certainly can’t stay in the slums. Rude's to swing by and see if Aerith’s mother would be willing to come too, if just to assuage any upset from Aerith. Reno has even been given a couple of infantry to help everything go smoothly. In and out, easy.
What Reno wasn’t expecting was someone else to be in the church.
“Well well well, what do we have here?” Reno says as he stares at the man.
The man in question has quickly put himself between Reno and Aerith. His eyes have the tell-tale glow of mako. What’s a SOLDIER doing here? No, Reno amends his initial assessment as he further takes in the guy; no SOLDIERs are that short or slight. The man has blonde and spikey hair. He’s wearing a turtleneck that could have been a part of a SOLDiER uniform, but he’s missing the rest of the get-up. He wears what might be a suit jacket tied around his waist and slacks that have been rolled up a few times. There are solid and worn boots on his feet. The most eye-catching thing is, however, the four visible weapons on his person.
He has two swords, sheathed on either side of his hips, and then two handguns in shoulder holsters. Reno scoffs; absolute overkill. Whoever this guy is, he’s probably new to fighting; rookies tend to have that ‘more is better’ mentality, but are unskilled with everything they have.
In and out.
Easy.
“Fuck off, Reno,” the man growls. His face rests into something akin to a glare, but is almost passive and blank enough to make it hard to discern emotions out of.
Huh. This guy knows his name. Reno studies the man's face more, his collection of weapons, and… nope, still doesn’t recognize him at all. Reno glances over at Aerith. She’s looking between the man and Reno uncertainly. She’s let this guy stand between them, though, so maybe she knows him. Strange that none of the turks watching her have reported on that if so; they keep tabs on every acquaintance of hers. Blondie with four weapons is not on the list.
“Don’t think I’ve had the pleasure. You are?” Reno says, tapping his electro-mag rod on his shoulder. He can hear the infantry shifting restlessly behind him. There’s a small twitch in the man’s expression, but Reno isn’t sure what it means and doesn’t bother to try and figure it out.
“My bodyguard!” Aerith declares with a smile that hides whatever this really is. Reno does his best not to flinch at the title. She hasn’t let anyone else have it in five years. Why chose this random dipshit? Reno’s grin becomes a snarl.
“Don’t have time for this. Boys, why don’t you take care of this?” Reno gestures to the man dismissively. The infantrymen move forward and Reno jumps to the top of a broken spire to watch the show.
“You’ve got this, Cloud!” Aeirth cheers for her supposed bodyguard. Reno almost dismisses the name outright,
Until the fighting starts.
Reno leans forward, eyes widening as he watches Cloud spring into action. He first goes for the dual swords, drawing them with practiced ease as he launches towards the infantrymen. He’s quick on his feet, dancing around the infantrymen. His movements are hard to parse, paradoxical, some strange mixture of novice and expert. He slices into one of the infantrymen, blades sharp and deadly. He’s quick and efficient, moving from one opponent to the other, keeping them from finding a solid moment to compose themselves and attack. The way he moves and fights, it’s familiar. Too familiar. A shiver goes down Reno’s spine and he stands up. He looks back over at Aerith. She has, apparently, decided to stay out of the fight, and all of her attention is on Cloud. Does she see it too?
A few more of the infantry who had been waiting outside come in, guns aimed and ready to shoot. The man dodges and, sheathing a sword, draws one of his handguns to send a few bullets their way that hit their targets with sure and steady accuracy. He follows up quickly with the sword he’s still holding. It doesn’t seem like either hand is less versed in battle than the other; ambidextrous, either by nature or by practice. And all of the fighting, Reno notes, is carefully placed away from the flowers.
The infantrymen are down, and Reno drops to the floor of the church. The man stares at him with those unsettling SOLDIER eyes. Mako junky, Reno thinks. Fits the best. Some addict who thinks he’s hot shit after he noticed his eyes changing color; he’ll be mako poisoned by the end of the week. That theory does not explain his fighting style, however.
“Looks like I’m stuck doing the cleanup,” Reno snarls. He braces and then bursts forward in a rush of electric magic that sings through him. A dangerous skill, but one he’s practiced to perfection. He aims for Cloud and-
The man dodges.
But it’s not a simple dodge. The sense of familiarity grows as Reno jumps out of the way of the ‘bodyguard’s sword swing. He only has one sword out now, and Reno barely has time to think as he brings up his mag rod to defect. Except, he doesn’t have to think, because he knows how to do this. He’s done this before. They dance around each other, steps both of them know and are familiar with.
It’s like sparring against-
Reno forces the thought out of his mind before he can fully form. That fucking ‘bodyguard’ title is getting to him, that’s all.
“Watch out, Cloud!” Aerith tells him. Tells this imposter, this person who she's called ‘bodyguard’ to on a fucking whim, like it doesn’t belong to-
Reno growls and sends out his electric orbs. This, finally, seems to catch the man by a bit of surprise. He eyes them warily and draws his second sword to begin taking them out. Reno feels relieved at that, and then upset about the relief; the mans’ fighting style shifts enough when he’s righting with two swords not to be a distraction.
It’s luck that lets Cloud get the upper hand. It must be.
Reno falls to the ground, panting and exhausted, and the ‘bodyguard’ stands over him with his creepy SOLDIER eyes. He raises the sword in his hand up.
“Hey, you’ve got it wrong-” Reno starts to say. This bodyguard clearly doesn't get it - he’s here to save Aerith, not hurt her. The man’s face is a mask.
“Cloud, stop!” Aerith yells. The man freezes.
“I’m your bodyguard, Aerith,” is Cloud’s cool reply, “I’m eliminating the threat.”
“He’s not a threat!” Aeirth insists, which probably would have stung if she wasn’t currently the only thing holding this freak back from killing Reno. She’s come closer to them now and puts a hand on Cloud’s arm. The moment is quiet and tense.
And then the church doors slam open, more infantry coming in. Reno rolls out of range of Cloud’s sword as Aerith drags him towards the back of the church. Reno knows he should be chasing them, he should be following them, but he’s shaken. Loathe as he is to admit it, he’s completely unsure what to make of this. He tells the rest of the men to stand down. It’s not as if they can’t guess where she’s going, after all.
So he lets Aerith and her bodyguard go, flipping open his phone and dialing Rude. He picks up quickly.
“Hey partner, you still in Sector Five?” Reno asks. An infantryman offers him a shoulder to lean on as they exit the church, and he slowly makes his way out. The defeat stings his pride, but he’s got to make sure business is taken care of all the same.
“Yup. Mrs. Gainsborough refuses to come,” Rude tells Reno, and he can’t say he’s surprised. They’re, of course, leaving out exactly why they wanted her to go, but even if they did tell her about the Plate dropping plan, slums people weren’t the kind to back down from a threat. Reno would know.
“I’m gonna need you to stay there, pretty sure she’s heading your way,” Reno says.
“Got past you?” Rude can’t help but to ask and Reno gives a huff. God, he needs a potion.
“Apparently, Aerith has a new ‘bodyguard,’” Reno reports, spitting the term like it’s poison on his tongue. Rude is quiet on the other side of the line for a moment, and Reno adds, “Those are her words for him, not mine.”
“It has been five years,” Rude says, “People move on.”
“She doesn’t know he’s dead!” Reno growls.
“Maybe she does,” Rude suggests. For a moment, Reno’s swears he can smell burning flesh again.
“Whatever, just get her and take care of her ‘friend,’” Reno tells Rude and then, after a moment of hesitation, says, “And don’t underestimate him. There’s something weird about how he fights.” Something achingly familiar, something that Reno refuses to put a name to, even to Rude. He's not sure he could explain it if he tried.
A couple hours later, Reno is resting up in Shinra tower, nursing his bruises, when Rude calls him back.
“Did you get her?” Reno asks instead of any kind of greeting.
“No,” Rude says. “Guard dog was still with her.” Reno glares at the ceiling; of course he was. “Reno, you noticed how he fights.” It’s not a question. Reno nods, even though he knows Rude can’t see it.
“Like a turk,” he admits through gritted teeth.
“Not just like a turk,” Rude insists, “Did he ever fight you with just one sword? He fights like Zack.”
“He fights like any swordsman. You saw his eyes, he’s probably some SOLDIER Third-Class defector who thinks he’s hot shit,” Reno says. “Zack never fought with dual swords, or with guns.” Guns were always too final for Zack, too deadly for him. He would have come around to the dirty work of a turk in time, but they’d let him specialize in swords anyway. Most turks fight close-range, and it paired well with Cissnei’s giant shuriken.
For a while there, they’d been the perfect match-up.
“Reno, do you think-” Rude starts.
“Do I think what ?” Reno snaps. “Do I think this fucking nobody loser is Zack Fair? He looks nothing like him - acts nothing like him - and, oh yeah, we saw his dead fucking corpse in the wastes!”
“Reno,” Rude’s voice is steady and grounding. Reno takes a long breath, forcing himself to calm down. “Do you think he could have known Zack, perhaps?”
That’s… That’s a lot more reasonable of a suggestion. Reno considers it for a moment.
“No, Zack would have introduced us. The kid was determined that all of his friends be friends.” Reno didn’t forget a face either; turks never did. Had they met, Reno would know.
“So then, what are we looking at here?” Rude asks. Reno shrugs.
“Not sure,” he admits, which pisses him off.
“You want to tell Tseng about it?”
“Tell him what? What’s there to tell? ‘Yeah, Aerith called this guy a bodyguard and I’m letting it get to my head’. That’s sure to really impress him,” Reno snarls.
“We tell him that Aerith has a bodyguard and that there’s something strange going on. Ask him if he knows of any previously defected turks that haven’t been dealt with,” Rude suggests. Reno grumbles, but it’s a good idea.
He has bigger worries, like the Plate falling. He’s in charge of actually hitting the button. He needs to rest up and get ready. For now, Reno pushes Cloud out of his mind. With any luck, the guy'll die in the Plate fall and he'll never see him again.