Legs of Stone

by scribblemoose

Reno picked his way through the rubble, cursing under his breath.

What a fucking day.

He squinted through the swirling dust, and caught a flicker of movement in the distance. A glance over his shoulder showed him Rude and Tseng searching what had been the West wing of Shinra's headquarters less than an hour ago.

Dust invaded Reno's lungs, and he coughed.

He started to make his way towards the trick of the light, eyes fixed on the ground. Partly because there was plenty to trip over, but partly because…

Well. Just because.

By the time he dared look up there was no doubt. It wasn't an illusion after all. Standing in the shattered remains of his empire, staring out past splintered timbers that had once been a window frame, stood Rufus Shinra.

Reno paused, and stared, and caught his breath.

"Boss?"

Rufus didn't move. For a moment Reno thought he was dead after all: that the stubborn bastard had just refused to lie down. But as he took a few steps closer he could hear the murmur of his voice. Closer still, and he made out words.

"… Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away."[1]

"Boss? Did you hit your fuckin' head or what?"

"Reno."

"Yeah."

"You survived."

"Yep. Rude and the others too. Takes more than a.. whatever the fuck that was… to kill us. You too. Unless you're a ghost?"

He looked like one. Pale as mist and his suit still astoundingly white, if a bit tattered at the edges.

"I'm alive," said Rufus. "But this… Midgar…"

Reno wiped sweat (or something) from his face with the back of one hand. Alive. "Guess it's gonna cost a bit to put it back the way it was, Boss."

"No." Rufus slumped against the remains of the wall to his left, a sickening lurch that made Reno's stomach flip. He moved fast, his shoulder under Rufus's arm before he could properly fall.

"Boss, you're injured." Reno fumbled in his pocket for his phone with his free hand. "I'll call-"

"Not yet," Rufus said. "Reno…"

"Yes Boss?"

Rufus's face was a frown, confused incomprehension. "I was wrong." As if it was something impossible, like water running uphill, and yet he'd seen it with his own eyes.

"Wrong? Nah, Boss, you're never wrong."

"I was. About the company, about all of it, I was no better than my father, I-"

For the first time Rufus's face flashed pain. Reno snaked his arm around his waist, so close now he could smell the dust and faint remnants of cologne on Rufus's skin. "Take it easy, Boss." He dialed blind, the secure code that Rude would recognise as a call for help. Then he dropped the phone so he could manhandle Rufus into a more comfortable position. He prodded the pile of bricks that was once a wall, convinced himself it wasn't about to fall. He leaned them both against it, sliding down to join Rufus sitting on the ground.

"I can't feel my legs," Rufus said, matter-of-fact. "Funny, they just… went."

"It'll be okay," said Reno. "Shock or some shit like that, you'll be fine."

"We thought we had so much power," said Rufus. "We thought we could own this. The people, the land, the earth."

"You still could, you know, just give it time-"

A flash of the old Rufus, then, pure disdain. "No, you jerk. Fuck, why would I expect you to understand? Why am I even talking to you?"

Reno grinned at him, cocky as fuck. "Because you can't resist me?"

And that was true. Even then, sitting in the pathetic remains of Shinra's empire, grasping onto the remains of their lives, there was a gleam of something in Rufus's eyes that reached something in Reno that…

Well, it was a good sign, that's all.

"It's going to be different," said Rufus, and somewhere in the distance sirens were blaring. "There's a reason I'm still here. I've got another chance. I don't have to make my father's mistake. I don't."

Somehow Reno was squeezing Rufus's hand. He didn't understand what Rufus was babbling on about, the bastard was probably delirious.

But he was there, warm and breathing.

And for Reno, if he'd dared admit it, that was more than enough for now.

~owari~

[1] from Ozymandias by Shelly