A silver sheet draped the sky, brisk, bold paint strokes streaking the air in gray clouds. A solemn rumble kissed the earth in pity, prepared to let it drown, and drown...

/Breathe.../

Ice fingers clutched the remaining shreds of a white piece of paper, mere symbols, words deftly cracking blows within his broken body... Reno hesitantly allowed his eyes to scan the words once more, a steady gulp drowning down his throat.

6:00 Oct.31-Hojo
"...This particular crimson vile will seep violently into the victim's mind, ailing a certain portion of the cerebrum. A meticulously worked chip will be inserted, delivering signals through neuron paths, bringing forth a promising effect...."

But what sort of anguish was this? His name wasn't once mentioned in this sheet... Did the burning feeling in his gut come from disgust? Perhaps Hojo's deranged mind crafted this certain specimen into a monster... and maybe Reno felt sorry for the tortured creature.

/Breathe/

But...that couldn't be. He had clutched a steel revolver, allowing the single silver tear to break mercilessly to a bloodied victim. His stomach had churned from the sight of the blood, the horrible stench of the decomposing corpse... But no pity... no guilt.

So then why now?

Why now?

"Why?" he echoed to the soft murmuring of the wind, his eyes staring at the heavens perhaps searching for the answer.

The heavens churned and responded in gray.

Reno crumpled the note in a furious ball, shoving it within his pocket, frustrated, tired... jaded.

He walked, his shoes squishing through mired streets of the fallen city. Reno glanced down. Remnants, bloody remnants of Midgar flying in broken shreds with the wind...

/Breathe/

Oh, why did the wind offer this dark sheet of words in his hands...

Reno heaved a bitter sigh shuffling in his pockets to find the crumbled ball of paper, carefully straightening the edges with his hands.

There has to be something else to this... The man scratched the tuft of fire on his head and hesitantly turned the scrap of paper to the other side...

"Wha...," he slowly murmured painfully, letting his mind absorb the meaning of those dark words.

6:00 Dec. 13-Hojo "...the red vile is progressively working to its goal. The young specimen seems to adapt to all signs. He's able to readily aim and fire mercilessly when requested. A strange sort of flicker still lies in his eyes... He is still human. Oh, but that shall wear away quite soon as the crimson vile does its purpose... Yes, he will be the first human… the first human to lack the essential flaw of humanity itself... Yes, I shall be able to rid him of the weakness... of guilt.

Reno breathed those last words, his throat choking his heart, his veins pounding with blood... to the point that he couldn't even hear the soft whimpers echoing from his lips... Why?... Who...

The words beneath that single entry were furiously written with a clear amount of force implemented in pushing the pen to bold strokes. A crimson-purple hue vaguely stained the bottom tip of the journal entry... and Reno continued to mouth the words beneath the torturous beating of his heart.

6:00 Feb. 13-Hojo "...he has grown now, a bit of madness in his mind. He went about cutting himself, one slash on each cheek and started ranting about some nonsense. He is quite insane, but still human... Perhaps he's in need of more vile... all in good time. He shall be the flawless soldier.

/Scars... two scars.../

Ice hands trembled violently, slowly tracing two crimson marks welded on each soft cheek. And with that simple movement, the mere contour of the scarlet scars traced by tainted fingers, the truth revealed its hideous shadow of light...

Light, like the blinding laps hung from bare ceilings, playing with the brisk laboratory air. The light, softly flickering of dust particles, bouncing and bouncing... the light, gleaming mockingly on blood. Reno's blood... married with his victim's. A small child stared into Reno's emerald eyes, a mocking smile curving her lips as she slept soundlessly within a pool of blood. For a moment, Reno simply nodded, looking away in apathy… but something, something beneath those artificial layers caused his mind to reel, his heart to scream.

And he loathed himself. A terrified scream echoed mercilessly from his lips, but the deranged scientist at his side simply handed him another bottle of red vile. Reno violently shook his head, sweat matting his fire hair in frustrated drops.

"NO!" he yelped, an empty plea within his green eyes.

"Nonsense... now drink."

"No, no, no...,"he repeated helplessly, his eyes fixing on the bloodied child at his side.

"Drink you insolent boy!"

"N-no," his lips shook with those broken words... And his eyes darted to a knife beside him, glimmering seductively in silver.

"I-I want to cry for them. All of them."

"Stupid, stupid child," Hojo muttered, a sliver of rage emitting from his brown eyes.

"This is the only way I know how..." Reno screamed, clutching the knife in trembling hands, slashing the sides of his cheek. Crimson liquid slid down his face in an unspoken silence... The scarlet drops slipped steadily onto the fallen girl, a sea of red embracing Reno in peace… his tranquillity.

"See... my tears, Hojo. I'm human, you see? ...Human...."

A wave of anguish furiously poured down his shoulders as Reno muttered with his past words... "Human..."
And the man of fire walked...
And walked to the outskirts of Midgar... to the sea.
I hold no guilt... not for all those people who screamed because of me... I'm not human... No, I'm a monster... or is there something worse? And Reno would have to stop the heartless monster before it was too late... before he was denied emotions too... denied warmth, coldness...

Oh, how'd he love to drench himself in coldness. Yes, anything to freeze the heated pounding in his heart, anything to guise the anguish pouring deviously in his soul.

"S-something to drink maybe...," Reno mumbled, letting his aching feet feel the ice sand steadily washing with the cold currents of the sea... feeling the frigid waves of the sea pulling against his body. He let his hands search his pocket and clung onto a small brown-filled bottle. A sorrowful smile etched his lips as he let the liquid drown the pounding agony he felt right then... or at least hide it for a while...

The waves were growing stronger, muttering bitterly at his sin, the futility of a man without guilt to stay human...

But then again, what was this pain?

No, it wasn't guilt... It wasn't regret or sorrow that pounded his heart.

No, it was simply the fact that he wasn't human.

How selfish of him… how utterly selfish...

"Take me then!" he screamed to the pounding waves at his feet as he fell to his knees, continuing to scream, his agonizing voice piercing the air...

The wind howled with more strength, and a solemn rumble once again echoed the sky…

"You heard that didn't you!? Come and take me then!" Reno laughed bitterly, his eyes darting towards the chaos of the sky.

/Take me.../

The waves wavered for just a second, silently accepting the monster's offer, dragging him into tranquillity...

Red weeds tumbled the sands of Costa de Sol. Navy blue rags hugged the empty lump, waves embracing the object in a soothing rhythm.

A mahogany-haired woman's eyes laid lazily at the morning sun, it's beams reflecting her lips in a smile... But a crumpled red and blue hill of some sort lay in the distance. Curiosity steadily flickered in her wine-colored eyes as she approached the unnamable object.

/It can't be…/

An astonished gasp released from her lips as her eyes met drenched strands of fire... hugging a human face.

"Reno?!"

The woman glanced at her enemy, an expression of pity emitting from her eyes... No she couldn't leave another human in a such a state...

And his lips curved in such sorrow... or perhaps something beyond sorrow... something bitter, something lacking hope. Tifa gently rolled Reno's body, his shut eyes facing the sun's warm rays. She gracefully interlaced her fingers, implementing a sudden force on Reno's lungs, hoping that the water drowning his chest would pour from his lips. She allowed her ear to rest on his chest... No breath...

/Breathe.../

She tried once again, using a greater force to push the water from his lungs.

A faint trace of a breath murmured through his cracked lips, and without warning, fountains of water sputtered through hacked breaths of the fire-haired man.

"W-What the hell are you doing?" He gritted his teeth angrily, battered coughs still reaching his throat.

"Saving you. I'll get you some dry clothes, so wait here... Yes, you heard me, so wait here," Tifa spoke patiently, a trace of anger bouncing from her eyes... No, but she held far more pity... Oh yes, she pitied this fallen man.

"Why?" he muttered, a sense of vulnerability lying beneath his voice.

"Because you're a human being... and you still deserve to live."

/Human.../

"Don't pity me," he growled slowly.

"Everyone deserves some warmth, Reno - I hold the same faults as you, Reno... We've both killed," she whispered. She glanced at Reno for a moment. A pained expression rendered his face, and hesitantly Tifa reached her fingers to slowly touch his cheek.

A burst of warmth lingered through Reno's cheek… yes warmth.

Something human.

The mahogany-haired woman grinned in sorrow, resting her hand towards her side, walking away muttering, "I'll bring you some towels..."

A small grin tugged Reno's lips.

He allowed his finger to slowly trace the upward curve of his mouth... No, it wasn't a smirk...

The smile pulled up gently in a sort of soft happiness.

Happiness?

Someone cared for him... enough to value his life… all because he was human. Something in his heart was human.

And he would grasp onto that soft compassion for as long as he could… It was all he had.

But that was all right for him... Hope was far better than anything he had dreamed of...