Midgar High School

He ran with his nightstick clenched in his fist like the rod of life. Tseng went before him, a shadow in the hall. They were both small, and always had been, but they were large enough to for this task.

Where did Tseng say...? his mind gasped. Outside the cafeteria, by the dumpster?

(He spooked the crap out of Reno. Always jumping out of the shadows. Maybe if he ignored him, pretended it didn't bother him, then he would stop trying to scare him. Fucking fat chance, though.)

He was on the whole other side of the school, damn it!

How did he become my friend so fast? Can he really be this important to me?

(He teased Reno mercilessly. Reno should have just pretended that scary movies didn't bother him. But, no, his little sisters had told Sephiroth, and Sephiroth had happily added Reno's fear to his arsenal.)

They ran past Ms. Scarlet's room. He still needed Sephiroth's help for her homework. Not that he really needed it, but it would mean the difference between an "A" and a "B"...

I swear, if they hurt him...

(Reno found that he could talk to Sephiroth surprisingly easy. Maybe it was despite their history. Maybe it was because of it. He remembered everything that Sephiroth had ever done to him and kept it in his mind as they spoke, but it seemed as the hours passed, it mattered less and less because...)

The science lab, the arts building. They were getting close.

...if they hurt him, I'll fucking kill them.

(whatever he had been before, whatever he had done before, Sephiroth just was not the same person. It was as if Reno had never met him before. He was his friend. He joked with him. He talked to him about the future, until Reno wasn't afraid of it. He was his friend.)

Tseng had been panting when he found Reno, and adrenaline had rushed through him at the sight. He knew instinctively, somehow, that that morning's beating hadn't been the end of it. It was Sephiroth. And it was never over.

He's never going to be free. Ever, is he?

His hand tightened its grip until his knuckles were white. The amphitheatre, the gym...

(He felt at ease. It was natural, like they had been friends for years.)

It was the feeling he had for Tseng when Sephiroth had beat Tseng up. It was ironic and it hurt him. But Sephiroth wasn't that same person. He wasn't strong, he was pathetic. He wasn't autonomous, he was needy, and he wasn't the same.

There was something else, that other thing. Why had Sephiroth suddenly changed? Why had it been now? Why had he decided to throw the game that day? Why hadn't he done it before? Was it really because of...?

(He turned to him, smirking, controller loose in his hand. "I beat your ass, Reno.")

Did he do it for me?

(He passed him in the hall in nothing but a towel, still awkward. "Did I get all the peanut butter out of my hair?")

Reno swallowed. He owed him. He was in Sephiroth's debt.

But it wasn't only that, anymore. He was his friend, damn it. He wanted to help him. Like Elena and Tseng when they were little. "Forever. We're like the three musketeers, so I'm going to protect you, forever." They had laughed at him, but he had meant it. He made a solemn vow to each them, childishly, childishly. I'll protect you forever.

(Sephiroth picked the pickles off his hamburger. "I like the pickle juice on it, but the pickles are gross.")

The second musketeer moved next to him, small and pale and Wutaian. Why did Tseng care about Sephiroth? Reno was surprised that he had told anyone.

If I were Tseng, I would have left him to the wolves.

But he wasn't Tseng, and Tseng had told him. So they ran silently together, breathing hard.

(He woke up suddenly. Sephiroth's face was an inch away from his; daylight was spilling through the window. "Wake up, Reno. It's morning.")

They were almost there. The courtyard with the flagpoles, the cafeteria...

(He blinked, groggy. "You couldn't have woken me up before? Sleeping all night on the lumpy couch...I have a crick in my neck now, you bastard.")

(He smiled crookedly. "You look like a baby when you sleep.")

(Shock. "What?")

(I remember...he told me he likes me...like that.)

(The smile widened; his teeth were white. The light shone through his haze of brilliant hair. "Like you’re gonna cry to your mom cause I'm going to beat your ass at Halo today.")

(Or, maybe...he could be my friend? I could protect him, too...)

"Almost there," Tseng gasped.

What about the future!? What about college!? Weren't we almost there!? What if he's dead!?

I wanted to see him there! If he dies now, I'll never get to see it, damn it!

A dumpster. Brown. The wall, gray. Against the wall...

"Sephiroth..."

He was leaning against it; his hair was splayed out on the dirty ground. Blood was dripping from his chin and nose and splattered black-red against his clothing.

He didn't move.

"Sephiroth!!"