*AUTHOR'S NOTE*
Hallo, Tsukasa here again. Remember that Reno fanfic I wrote a while back, and how I promised there was more coming? Well this is the sequel. It takes place five years after the original story, six years after the events of Advent Children. I hope you like it! 
Yet again, yes, I know Reno technically has no last name. It stemmed from me accidentally originally choosing Sinclair as Theda's last name, but when I learned it was a common choice for Reno's supposed last name I had to change her's to Grisham. Then I decided I liked Sinclair as a last name for Reno. It seems to fit somehow.
Happy reading!
Tsukasa Kwassa Kwassa
Reno Sinclair was second in command of the Turks, the Department of Administrative Research at the newly rebuilt Shinra Electric Power Company. He was a young man, no older than 35, with spiky red hair and a long red rat tail. He was decidedly rangy and his skin was pale. His eyes were pale as well, but the seemed to smile when he talked and they were a remarkable shade of blue.
It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon and Reno was at his desk at work. Reno's desk was a mess. He hardly ever used it, and paperwork seemed to stack up on it like nobody's business. Reno never did any of it; his partner Rude always covered the same cases as him, so the paperwork was identical. Reno looked over at Rude, who was busy typing at his computer. He smiled. His partner was so… diligent.
Reno redirected his gaze to a picture he had on his desk of his wife Theda and their son Ringo. Theda has short black hair and a pretty smile. Reno smiled sort of sadly looking at the photograph. Theda has always hated the fact Reno worked for Shinra. In the time that he had been working for the company he had been badly injured countless times, and he nearly died once. He didn’t want to think of what would happen to Theda should his job kill him. As soon as this though crossed his mind, Reno's cell phone began to ring. He answered.
"Hey beautiful. I was just thinking of you, yo."
Theda laughed. Reno smiled at the sound.
"Oh really? Do they let you do that on the job?"
"What is it Theda?" he said, grinning now.
"I just wanted to let you know, we're having soup for dinner. And Ringo wants to show you something. Apparently he finished your portrait?" Hearing this, Reno laughed. Ringo was four.
"Tell Ringo I look forward to seeing it. I'll be home at eight, all right?"
"All right."
"I love you," Reno added, his voice softer.
"I love you too Reno." She hung up and Reno returned the phone to his pocket. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, stretching. With so much time to kill, Reno soon became bored and he started to amuse himself by tilting his chair back on two legs.
"Don't do that," Rude said without looking up. "You might fall."
"I'll be careful, yo. You should worry about yourself. You work too hard man." Rude chuckled.
"That's only because you don't work at all," he replied.
"Aw, come on—" Reno stared, but the door to their office opened without warning and Reno fell backwards out of his chair. In the doorway stood Tseng, their superior and first in command of the Turks.
"Reno, the President needs to see us."
Reno stood, nursing the newly formed bump on the back of his head. Rude laughed to himself.
"Told you that you would fall," he said, still not looking up from his work.
"Stop gloating," said Reno. He then followed Tseng out of the office.
Rufus Shinra had been President of Shinra Electric Power for seven years now, and Reno had known him for even longer than that. He admired Rufus and his ability to lead such a large company. Just his own small branch of the company was enough to make Reno's brain hurt. As they walked into the President's office, Reno noticed Rufus had some very difficult looking files up on his computer.
"Mr. President?" Tseng said. Rufus looked up.
"Tseng. Reno. Come in."
They did. Reno plopped himself in one of the chairs in from of Rufus's desk. Tseng frowned and remained standing.
"Yes sir?" he said.
"I have new missions for you," the President said smiling. "Tseng, I need you and Elena to investigate reports of some sort of monster on the loose in Nibelheim. You'll be leaving tomorrow." Tseng nodded curtly and the President turned to Reno. "And you Reno. You and Rude will be looking into reports of a terrorist attack that's about to occur in Edge."
"Sounds like fun, yo," Reno said playing with something on Rufus's desk.
"Yes, well I knew I could count on you. Both of these missions are classified. You aren't allowed to tell anyone on the outside. No, not even you wife Reno." Hearing this, Reno looked up.
"But sir!"
"No Reno. You don't want her worrying more than she has to, right?"
Reno bit his lip. It didn't seem right not to tell her, but he wasn't going to argue with Rufus Shinra.
"Very well, you and your partners will be further briefed tomorrow. You can go now."
After they left the office, Tseng turned to Reno.
"You shouldn't have questioned the President like that Reno."
"Yeah, well, when you have a wife, we can talk about it, but I'm not exactly in the mood, thanks." Tseng merely looked at Reno for a few seconds and shook his head, turning away. Reno turned as well and returned to his office.
"Hey, you okay?" Rude asked as he walked through the door. Reno sighed.
"Yep, fine. We have a new mission, by the way."
"Fine with me," Rude said and turned back to his work. Reno sat at his desk and continued to amuse himself with inane things until it was time for him to leave.
Reno always walked home, as he lived relatively close by. It was a cold night, and the wind was blowing hard. It chapped Reno's skin and made his cheeks flush. Bits of wadded up garbage and discarded papers blew around his ankles. Reno shivered. A chill had run down his spine, but it wasn't the cold. Reno flicked his wrist and suddenly a dangerous looking metal rod appeared fully extended in his hand. It glinted in the dim light.
"All right, whoever's following me, show yourself!"
Suddenly, Reno felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. Something warm and wet began to trickle down his neck. Reno touched it, and when he brought his hand into the light, he could see it shining with blood. Reno's eyes rolled back in his head and he collapse.
Reno awoke to a dull aching in the back of his head.
'I should have listened to Rude,' he thought without opening his eyes. 'The bump I got from galling out of that chair really hurts.'
He half consciously reached back to massage the bump and felt his head wrapped in bandages. All at once, Reno's memories came flooding back to him. He opened his eyes and sat up with a start.
From what he could tell, he was in a cell of some sort, and the building was obviously abandoned, most likely in Midgar. There were no windows and the light was dim, suggesting it might be underground. Reno could just make out a plate and he reached for it. On it was brad and some sort of cheese. Reno ate without hesitation. He needed to think and he couldn’t think while he was hungry.
Reno was still a little hazy from the blow to the back of his head. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious for. All he knew is that he needed to escape.
That's when the door opened and he was blinded by the bright light that flooded in.
"Ah... so you are awake then. That makes things simpler."
The speaker was a woman with long auburn hair. One of her eyes was clouded, as if it was blind, but the other was piercing and yellow. She hoisted Reno up by the arm and started to drag him out of the room.
"Come along then. This will be easier if you don't struggle."
Reno did struggle however. He tried to free himself from the woman's grip. The woman pressed two fingers into his neck, causing Reno's body to spasm uncontrollably as if there was some sort of electrical current running through him. He tried to scream, but no sound would come. The pain was too great.
"I told you not to struggle, Shinra dog. You should listen to what you're told." The woman continued to drag Reno's limp body down the hall. She led him to a dark room with a char and nothing else. The woman forced Reno to sit in the chair and then went to close the door. She stood in front of it, her arms folded. A light came on, and suddenly Reno could see that they were not alone in the room. In front of him sat three men behind a table. Reno couldn't make out their faces. His vision was blurred.
"What is your name?" one of the men said.
Reno could barely speak. Sweat beaded on his forehead. The pain had been so immense. All he could manage was something garbled in response.
"What?" said the one in the middle.
"I said you can kiss my ass, yo!" Reno shouted. The woman at the door stared, but the man in the middle waved her off.
"It's alright Deanna. Calm yourself."
The woman, Deanna, refolded her arms. Reno heard the man in the middle sigh.
"You seem to be quite defiant," said the man. "It's no matter, we already know. I was merely curious as to how you'd respond. Mr. Reno Sinclair, am I correct? You work for Rufus Shinra…. Well Mr. Sinclair, we might as well inform you as to why you are here. Our intelligence tells us you are one of your boss's favorites, and he is likely to do anything to ensure your safety. You see, your company seem to have a number of my esteemed colleagues being held captive. We need your help to get them back."
"That's not my jurisdiction," Reno said through gritted teeth. "I had nothing to do with your friends being captured. Why did you do this?"
The man laughed.
"I don't think you quite understand Mr. Sinclair. You are merely means to an end."
"You're monsters," said Reno angrily.
The man gave Deanna a quick nod. She came over and started at Reno's neck with her two fingers. Reno tried to fight her off, but he was still too weak from her first attack. As she pressed her fingers into Reno's neck again, he couldn't help but cry out in anguish. And when she returned to her position by the door, Reno was left in a heap, twitching every few seconds.
"Ah yes, well Mr. Sinclair. When you were brought here, the wound you sustained seemed to have caused more blood loss than predicted. The only blood we had left in you type seemed to be the kind with these very peculiar nanomachines in it. The react with the implants in Deanna's index finger in quite an interesting way, you'd have to agree?" Reno merely whimpered. "Ah, well I'm glad we can understand each other. Mr. Sinclair, tomorrow I will be calling Rufus Shinra in order to negotiate the return of my colleagues. I do so hope you'll be present."
With that, Reno felt himself being lifted. He was carried away, down more hallways to another room where he was placed on the floor. Reno lay there, unable to move for a while.
'I have to get out of here,' he thought. Then he thought of Theda, who was most likely out of her mind with worry as to why he had never come home. He thought of Ringo, who was too young to even understand the situation. Reno began to cry for the fist time in nearly five years. He pulled himself into a tight ball on the cold concrete floor and cried himself to sleep.
When Reno awoke, he felt strong enough to stand once again. He tried to get a better grasp on his surroundings, and he began to pace back and forth. A guard came in to give him breakfast, but Reno stopped him before he could leave.
"Hey is there anyway you could take me to a bathroom? I mean… I gotta go, yo."
The guard rolled his eyes. He took Reno by the wrist. Reno smirked, and flipped the guard on his back. The man was knocked out. Reno looked around, and then ran down a hall as fast as he could. Only one thought consumed his entire mind and that was escape.
Reno turned down a few different hallways, looking for a way to make it out. Finally, Reno spotted what seemed to be a ladder leading to the outside. Reno placed his hands on it and prepared to climb. Suddenly he heard a harsh voice behind him.
"Don't move, Shinra scum."
Reno didn't give himself time to see what was behind him. He clambered up the ladder as fast as he could, gunshots and screaming behind him. When Reno reached the surface, he didn't once look back, he just ran.
A shot rang out. Reno felt a sudden white hot pain in his shoulder. The blood began to pour, but Reno just continued to run. Eventually he no longer heard the footsteps behind him. The shouts quieted. Reno began to slow his running. As he came to a halt, his breath was hard and uneven. For the first time, he looked down at his shoulder. There seemed to be a hole straight through it.
Reno ducked into the first halfway structurally sound building he could find. He sat on a bench and proceeded to rip the sleeve of his shirt off. Using it as a bandage, Reno tied it tight in order to stem the bleeding.
Suddenly, looking down at the bench he was sitting on, Reno realized it wasn't really a bench at all, but a pew. He stood and looked around almost incredulously at his surroundings. He was surrounded by rows of pews, but instead of an altar there was a pool of calm, sparkling water and scores of beautiful white flowers.
'Well,' Reno thought to himself. 'At least now I know where I am.'
Reno set off shortly thereafter. He still didn't know who might be after him. He knew on thing however: he needed to make it Edge.
Reno felt strange walking through the place that had once been his home. The ruins of Midgar had an eerie aura about them. They made Reno uncomfortable.
'What I wouldn't give for a helicopter,' he thought. But Reno knew he wasn't going to just find one lying about, and he laughed in spite of himself. He picked up his pace and tired to focus on just getting to his destination.
It was hours before Reno could finally see Edge. However, at this point, the blood loss was starting to get to him. He felt light headed and nauseous, and the mere action of walking was becoming difficult.
'I have to make it,' Reno thought. 'I'm so close."
He could hear the sound of Theda's voice in his mind.
"Reno. I need you," he could hear her saying. She had said those words to him so many times.
Reno began to walk faster and faster. The pain in his shoulder was immense, but he wasn't going to slow down for that. The sun was rising to the right of him, and yet by the time he had reached Edge it was mid morning.
There were people all around him, rushing to their jobs and various engagements. Reno's hear was beating out of his chest. He was woozy, and the city seemed to spin about him. It was almost difficult to breathe. Reno felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and turned around, entirely prepared to beat the hell out of whoever had touched him. Fortunately, he didn't.
It was a young man Reno now recognized as a junior officer from his department.
"Sir, is that you?" he said, his eyes wide. "Gosh, you look horrible. What happened to you?"
"Take me to Rufus Shinra," Reno said in a very laborious manner.
"Right away sir," the young Turk replied. He helped Reno to a car nearby. "You know, we've been looking for you for nearly three days now, sir. The President sure will be glad we found you."
Reno nodded, still breathing heavily. He leaned back in his seat as the younger man started the car. Suddenly, all the relief and happiness that he had actually survived overwhelmed him. At first he merely smirked, but then he broke out into a full grin. He laughed, and the junior Turk looked over, confused. Reno didn't care. He had done it. He had escaped.
Epilogue
She sat alone in her kitchen, eyes red from crying. Theodosia Sinclair had just put her son Ringo to bed, and though she tried to remain strong for him, now that he was asleep she could hardly keep herself together.
Ringo looked so much like his father, with his vibrant red unkempt hair, pale skin and smiling eyes. Theda almost couldn't bear it.
"We're doing everything in our power," they had told her, but Theda didn't know if she could believe it. She could never trust Shinra, not after what they had done to her.
Theda heard a something that sounded like the front door closing. She stood and went to investigate, her hear racing. That's when she saw him. His head was wrapped in bandages, his arm in a sling. His eyes almost seemed sunken into his skill. And he looked so tired, as if he could sleep for days. More tears pricked Theda's eyes. She ran to him.
"Reno," she choked out through sobs. She held onto him hard, as if she were to let go he might evaporate into thin air.
He put his good arm around her and squeezed back. Theda could hear him crying, but she didn't say anything. She knew he didn't like people to know it was even possible for him to cry. They stood there like that for close to half and hour.
"I love you," Reno said.
"You came back," she said.
"Yes," he replied. "I survived."
