[FF7] Silver in Autumn
[FF7] Silver in Autumn
Rating: PG
Time-frame: pre-BC, but contains no spoilers.
Tseng/Reno - prompt #1: Death, prompt #2: Leaves
For celes_grant and liriaen
Word count: 1,875 - One shot, complete.
Summary: This wasn’t their first mission. Far from it. Tseng brings a newly minted Turk on a run. And isn’t impressed.
A/N: I was lazy! And because 2 people asked for the same pairing, I combined the prompts. Technically, I could have split it into two different fics, but they read better together.
He wasn’t impressed.
He really wasn’t.
Sparing a second to exchange the empty pistol in his hand for the loaded one in his shoulder holster, Tseng snapped off two shots before ducking around the corner. Returning fire took the plaster off the wall.
“What the hell do we do?”
He glanced across. Reno was a hovering ball of nervous energy, bouncing on his toes, tension practically radiating off his skinny frame.
“Keep your head down and quit getting us into trouble,” Tseng snarled, catching the wince that flickered across his junior’s face, and ignoring it. This wasn’t their first mission. Far from it. Granted, the earlier ones had all been simple patrols, designed to break the newbies in slowly. Easy. Too easy. So easy it had bred a terrible combination of invulnerability and over-confidence which had just exploded in their face.
He reloaded swiftly, noting that he was almost out of ammunition. Great. He had thought they were in trouble when Reno had, in a moment of carelessness, blown their cover earlier. Now he was starting to doubt their chances of survival. He wished he had brought more materia.
Reno wasn’t any help. Reno had emptied his clips earlier, snapping off shots in a violent hurry without a care for ammunition. Granted, he had been freaking out, enemies coming down hard on his head, but still. He had a long way to go.
I have a long way to go, Tseng thought ruefully, half furious at himself for not somehow training the kid better.
“Should we call for backup?” Reno suggested.
“No,” he replied shortly. The only backup on standby was SOLDIER, and the moment that pack descended, their identities would be clearly and irrefutably traced back to the Company. Which was exactly what they wanted to avoid. Which wouldn’t just blow the mission: it would render it worse than useless.
Secrecy was paramount. Better for them to die than to reveal their masters.
Which wasn’t comforting. Which really wasn’t comforting, as he ducked out from behind the corner, heart thumping violently in his chest, screaming at Reno to follow him. Bullets rained down on them, smashing into the wall behind, and he didn’t think about how close they were falling, how narrow the margins were, how utterly stupid this was… He just ran. Ran like all the demons of hell were behind him. Ran and hoped like hell that Reno was keeping up.
Flash of red beside him, as Reno overtook him, diving behind a dumpster. Tseng joined him half a second later and metal screeched as rounds ploughed mercilessly into it. Damn, but the kid was fast.
“Where’re we going?” Reno yelled, struggling to be heard of the thunderclaps of gunshots as Tseng returned fire. “Where’s the pick up?”
Far enough. It was a small comfort that they had at least done what they had come here to do - the data center of the rival company was nothing more than a smouldering ruin, and the discs were heavy in his jacket pocket. But they were also deep in the heart of the enemy’s compound, and the helicopter’s landing zone was oh, so far away…
“About 5 minutes from the LZ,” he replied calmly, chucking his spare pistol to Reno. “Don’t use it unless you have to. You only have twenty rounds in that.”
“What about you? Thought you were running out of clips!”
He smiled grimly. “I have enough.” It would have to be enough.
“Boss, you take the gun.” Reno pressed it back into his hand. “I’m a lousy shot. Firearms just aren’t my thing, you know?”
He glanced sharply at the other Turk as more rounds exploded overhead. They would have to move again. They couldn’t afford to sit here until they were surrounded. He couldn’t leave Reno unarmed…
But it was true. Reno was a lousy shot. Countless hours in the firing range and still he would forget to compensate for recoil in the heat of battle, would under or over compensate for target movement…
“You think we’re gonna die here, boss?” Reno’s voice was calm. Quiet, almost.
“I don’t bother speculating,” he replied.
“Guess not.”
Something in the kid’s voice made him glance over. Reno was scared. He knew that. He had seen it earlier, reflected in the kid’s wide green eyes. But what really caught his attention wasn’t the hint of terror that was still hovering there.
No. It was the grin, wide and feral, that stretched across his face, making the twin tattoos on his cheekbones curl upwards. Breathless anticipation caught in parted lips, adrenaline making his eyes shine and dance with a light that hadn’t been there earlier.
The kid was scared shitless and loving it.
“Boss,” Reno said. “We’re not getting closer to the LZ like this.”
“We’re not.” He closed his hand around both pistols, the beginnings of a plan starting to seep through the certainty of death. Reno wasn’t good at firearms. But Reno was good for a few things. And right now, a desperate plan was as good as none at all.
“Listen up,” he said.
He ducked out from behind the dumpster, heading for the shadow of one of the buildings. Something thudded heavily into his chest, flinging him backwards, and he let himself move with it, let them think that he had been hit. It would bruise all the way through the Kevlar jacket, but at least it wouldn’t kill him.
He slammed into the floor, grunting from the pain of impact, as the gunfire came to a halt.
Silence descended, the peace of night descending once more, and he closed his eyes.
The footsteps were brisk. Purposeful. Careless.
He watched them out of the corner of his eye, watched them make their way across the quadrangle. Heavy automatic rifles slung over shoulders or cradled in hands. This wasn’t going to be easy, but it was at least worth a shot…
He watched them move steadily nearer, feeling the tingling of adrenaline in his veins. Was this what Reno felt, he wondered, this giddy rush, the way your senses sharpened and your heart sped up… this compelling need to move, strung on the wire between life and death?
He held his breath.
NOW.
Something moved. Flash of white and black. Crackle of electricity that split the darkness. And Tseng was on his feet too, firing, painting the ground with blood.
But it was Reno who arrested his attention, even as he laid down covering fire. It was Reno who was the star of this show, a dancing whirlwind of death amidst the enemy. EMR flashing silver and blue against the night sky, laying out death in showers of blood and sparks. He was too close for them to draw a bead on him with their heavy rifles, ducking their clumsy punches and laying about with weapon and feet.
In the midst of the tumult, their eyes met, and Reno grinned.
No good at firearms, boss.
No, your skills lie elsewhere.
*
“Good job,” Veld said, as they stepped off the helicopter. “I was certain for a moment that both of you were goners there, when my team got out and you weren’t following. But you do tend to pull through in a pinch.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“And be sure to debrief Reno. He may have landed your team in trouble, but at least he got you out of it.”
“Reno’s right here---“ Tseng glanced to his side, across the landing pad, to where the young Turk should have been.
He was gone.
*
He found him up by the Junon cliffs. Autumn had turned the trees red and gold, matching Reno’s fire bright hair as he wandered, seemingly aimlessly, through them. For a moment, Tseng was tempted to shout; bring him back with a call… but the serenity of the place was heavy upon his shoulders. He felt like an intruder here, someone come to break the silence.
He held his peace.
Ahead of him, Reno paused, pulling his EMR from his belt. A flick of his wrist snapped it to full extension, and Tseng watched his grip shift on it, tightening.
And Reno moved.
It was a dance, Tseng thought to himself. Silver and black flashing amidst the falling leaves, the EMR striking each with a tiny flash. Gleaming arcs that caught the rays of the early morning sun as he swung. It was the dance he had seen earlier, spinning motion that simply took his breath away.
And it was beautiful.
Reno paused, amidst a rain of falling leaves. Silence fell, softly, gently; broken only by the sound of the wind through the trees.
“It’s cleaner like this,” Reno said, even though Tseng was sure that he hadn’t moved. “Used to think that killing people would be the same, but …”
He pushed himself away from the tree that he had been leaning against. “It’s your first kill, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” The younger Turk turned, tilting his head the side. “Fancy seeing you here.”
Tseng made a non-committal noise, folding his arms over his chest. “Fancy seeing you here. You were supposed report to HQ for the debrief.”
Reno sauntered forward. “I didn’t think you’d follow.”
“Why shouldn’t I?” he countered, and he was all too aware of the way his eyes were arrested by Reno’s. By the brashness in that stare, the presumptions that were being made… the sense of invulnerability and over-confidence.
“How was it?” Reno asked.
“Beautiful,” he admitted, before he even registered what he was saying. The other’s lips twitched in a smirk.
Beautiful. Elegant. Reno was at his best when he was moving, the natural grace that they had started to hone into deadly weapon. It seemed almost a pity that he was so still now as they stared at each other…
…No. Now he could see that Reno was never quite at rest. The stillness in his frame was no stop, it was merely a pause, a precursor to movement, to action. For even while holding his breath, caught in the tension of the moment, his eyes still gleamed, currents still shifting under them. And now Tseng could see the hesitation under the seeming confidence, the unspoken question, the search for invitation, for acceptance.
He raised his hand to run down the side of Reno’s face, thumb tracing the curve of the tattoo. And Reno smiled.
Fire and light, was what Tseng thought, when he brought their lips together. Reno’s hand was fisting in his hair, tugging at the band that kept his ponytail together, pressing close. The pause over, moving to the next stage of the dance with all the fervour and vigour that he applied to life…
He broke away first, inserting another pause into the rhythm as Reno stared in confusion. Brushed him off as he tried to lean in again, and walked away.
“Boss?”
“Debrief in an hour. See you in my office.”
The crunch of leaves underfoot was loud as he walked back towards the Junon base. One step, two... and then, hesitantly, the sound of a second set of footsteps behind.
Reno would follow, he was sure of that. Follow, run after, and overtake him.
And the ghost of a smile brushed Tseng’s lips.
*
END
Rating: PG
Time-frame: pre-BC, but contains no spoilers.
Tseng/Reno - prompt #1: Death, prompt #2: Leaves
For celes_grant and liriaen
Word count: 1,875 - One shot, complete.
Summary: This wasn’t their first mission. Far from it. Tseng brings a newly minted Turk on a run. And isn’t impressed.
A/N: I was lazy! And because 2 people asked for the same pairing, I combined the prompts. Technically, I could have split it into two different fics, but they read better together.
He wasn’t impressed.
He really wasn’t.
Sparing a second to exchange the empty pistol in his hand for the loaded one in his shoulder holster, Tseng snapped off two shots before ducking around the corner. Returning fire took the plaster off the wall.
“What the hell do we do?”
He glanced across. Reno was a hovering ball of nervous energy, bouncing on his toes, tension practically radiating off his skinny frame.
“Keep your head down and quit getting us into trouble,” Tseng snarled, catching the wince that flickered across his junior’s face, and ignoring it. This wasn’t their first mission. Far from it. Granted, the earlier ones had all been simple patrols, designed to break the newbies in slowly. Easy. Too easy. So easy it had bred a terrible combination of invulnerability and over-confidence which had just exploded in their face.
He reloaded swiftly, noting that he was almost out of ammunition. Great. He had thought they were in trouble when Reno had, in a moment of carelessness, blown their cover earlier. Now he was starting to doubt their chances of survival. He wished he had brought more materia.
Reno wasn’t any help. Reno had emptied his clips earlier, snapping off shots in a violent hurry without a care for ammunition. Granted, he had been freaking out, enemies coming down hard on his head, but still. He had a long way to go.
I have a long way to go, Tseng thought ruefully, half furious at himself for not somehow training the kid better.
“Should we call for backup?” Reno suggested.
“No,” he replied shortly. The only backup on standby was SOLDIER, and the moment that pack descended, their identities would be clearly and irrefutably traced back to the Company. Which was exactly what they wanted to avoid. Which wouldn’t just blow the mission: it would render it worse than useless.
Secrecy was paramount. Better for them to die than to reveal their masters.
Which wasn’t comforting. Which really wasn’t comforting, as he ducked out from behind the corner, heart thumping violently in his chest, screaming at Reno to follow him. Bullets rained down on them, smashing into the wall behind, and he didn’t think about how close they were falling, how narrow the margins were, how utterly stupid this was… He just ran. Ran like all the demons of hell were behind him. Ran and hoped like hell that Reno was keeping up.
Flash of red beside him, as Reno overtook him, diving behind a dumpster. Tseng joined him half a second later and metal screeched as rounds ploughed mercilessly into it. Damn, but the kid was fast.
“Where’re we going?” Reno yelled, struggling to be heard of the thunderclaps of gunshots as Tseng returned fire. “Where’s the pick up?”
Far enough. It was a small comfort that they had at least done what they had come here to do - the data center of the rival company was nothing more than a smouldering ruin, and the discs were heavy in his jacket pocket. But they were also deep in the heart of the enemy’s compound, and the helicopter’s landing zone was oh, so far away…
“About 5 minutes from the LZ,” he replied calmly, chucking his spare pistol to Reno. “Don’t use it unless you have to. You only have twenty rounds in that.”
“What about you? Thought you were running out of clips!”
He smiled grimly. “I have enough.” It would have to be enough.
“Boss, you take the gun.” Reno pressed it back into his hand. “I’m a lousy shot. Firearms just aren’t my thing, you know?”
He glanced sharply at the other Turk as more rounds exploded overhead. They would have to move again. They couldn’t afford to sit here until they were surrounded. He couldn’t leave Reno unarmed…
But it was true. Reno was a lousy shot. Countless hours in the firing range and still he would forget to compensate for recoil in the heat of battle, would under or over compensate for target movement…
“You think we’re gonna die here, boss?” Reno’s voice was calm. Quiet, almost.
“I don’t bother speculating,” he replied.
“Guess not.”
Something in the kid’s voice made him glance over. Reno was scared. He knew that. He had seen it earlier, reflected in the kid’s wide green eyes. But what really caught his attention wasn’t the hint of terror that was still hovering there.
No. It was the grin, wide and feral, that stretched across his face, making the twin tattoos on his cheekbones curl upwards. Breathless anticipation caught in parted lips, adrenaline making his eyes shine and dance with a light that hadn’t been there earlier.
The kid was scared shitless and loving it.
“Boss,” Reno said. “We’re not getting closer to the LZ like this.”
“We’re not.” He closed his hand around both pistols, the beginnings of a plan starting to seep through the certainty of death. Reno wasn’t good at firearms. But Reno was good for a few things. And right now, a desperate plan was as good as none at all.
“Listen up,” he said.
He ducked out from behind the dumpster, heading for the shadow of one of the buildings. Something thudded heavily into his chest, flinging him backwards, and he let himself move with it, let them think that he had been hit. It would bruise all the way through the Kevlar jacket, but at least it wouldn’t kill him.
He slammed into the floor, grunting from the pain of impact, as the gunfire came to a halt.
Silence descended, the peace of night descending once more, and he closed his eyes.
The footsteps were brisk. Purposeful. Careless.
He watched them out of the corner of his eye, watched them make their way across the quadrangle. Heavy automatic rifles slung over shoulders or cradled in hands. This wasn’t going to be easy, but it was at least worth a shot…
He watched them move steadily nearer, feeling the tingling of adrenaline in his veins. Was this what Reno felt, he wondered, this giddy rush, the way your senses sharpened and your heart sped up… this compelling need to move, strung on the wire between life and death?
He held his breath.
NOW.
Something moved. Flash of white and black. Crackle of electricity that split the darkness. And Tseng was on his feet too, firing, painting the ground with blood.
But it was Reno who arrested his attention, even as he laid down covering fire. It was Reno who was the star of this show, a dancing whirlwind of death amidst the enemy. EMR flashing silver and blue against the night sky, laying out death in showers of blood and sparks. He was too close for them to draw a bead on him with their heavy rifles, ducking their clumsy punches and laying about with weapon and feet.
In the midst of the tumult, their eyes met, and Reno grinned.
No good at firearms, boss.
No, your skills lie elsewhere.
*
“Good job,” Veld said, as they stepped off the helicopter. “I was certain for a moment that both of you were goners there, when my team got out and you weren’t following. But you do tend to pull through in a pinch.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“And be sure to debrief Reno. He may have landed your team in trouble, but at least he got you out of it.”
“Reno’s right here---“ Tseng glanced to his side, across the landing pad, to where the young Turk should have been.
He was gone.
*
He found him up by the Junon cliffs. Autumn had turned the trees red and gold, matching Reno’s fire bright hair as he wandered, seemingly aimlessly, through them. For a moment, Tseng was tempted to shout; bring him back with a call… but the serenity of the place was heavy upon his shoulders. He felt like an intruder here, someone come to break the silence.
He held his peace.
Ahead of him, Reno paused, pulling his EMR from his belt. A flick of his wrist snapped it to full extension, and Tseng watched his grip shift on it, tightening.
And Reno moved.
It was a dance, Tseng thought to himself. Silver and black flashing amidst the falling leaves, the EMR striking each with a tiny flash. Gleaming arcs that caught the rays of the early morning sun as he swung. It was the dance he had seen earlier, spinning motion that simply took his breath away.
And it was beautiful.
Reno paused, amidst a rain of falling leaves. Silence fell, softly, gently; broken only by the sound of the wind through the trees.
“It’s cleaner like this,” Reno said, even though Tseng was sure that he hadn’t moved. “Used to think that killing people would be the same, but …”
He pushed himself away from the tree that he had been leaning against. “It’s your first kill, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” The younger Turk turned, tilting his head the side. “Fancy seeing you here.”
Tseng made a non-committal noise, folding his arms over his chest. “Fancy seeing you here. You were supposed report to HQ for the debrief.”
Reno sauntered forward. “I didn’t think you’d follow.”
“Why shouldn’t I?” he countered, and he was all too aware of the way his eyes were arrested by Reno’s. By the brashness in that stare, the presumptions that were being made… the sense of invulnerability and over-confidence.
“How was it?” Reno asked.
“Beautiful,” he admitted, before he even registered what he was saying. The other’s lips twitched in a smirk.
Beautiful. Elegant. Reno was at his best when he was moving, the natural grace that they had started to hone into deadly weapon. It seemed almost a pity that he was so still now as they stared at each other…
…No. Now he could see that Reno was never quite at rest. The stillness in his frame was no stop, it was merely a pause, a precursor to movement, to action. For even while holding his breath, caught in the tension of the moment, his eyes still gleamed, currents still shifting under them. And now Tseng could see the hesitation under the seeming confidence, the unspoken question, the search for invitation, for acceptance.
He raised his hand to run down the side of Reno’s face, thumb tracing the curve of the tattoo. And Reno smiled.
Fire and light, was what Tseng thought, when he brought their lips together. Reno’s hand was fisting in his hair, tugging at the band that kept his ponytail together, pressing close. The pause over, moving to the next stage of the dance with all the fervour and vigour that he applied to life…
He broke away first, inserting another pause into the rhythm as Reno stared in confusion. Brushed him off as he tried to lean in again, and walked away.
“Boss?”
“Debrief in an hour. See you in my office.”
The crunch of leaves underfoot was loud as he walked back towards the Junon base. One step, two... and then, hesitantly, the sound of a second set of footsteps behind.
Reno would follow, he was sure of that. Follow, run after, and overtake him.
And the ghost of a smile brushed Tseng’s lips.
*
END