Part Six

Reno couldn't tell how long he had been unconscious but he could feel he was now lying on a bed. At first, he wasn't sure if everything he had experienced had been a dream. It was hard to really remember what had happened between the time he and Rude had been on their way back from the Shinra building and being sprawled on the lab floor. His head felt achy and his body felt sore. The pain forced him awake. He let out a groan as he began to stir. His entire body felt as though it weighed a ton and it hurt too much to move. Reno tried to open his eyes but felt overwhelming dizziness wash over him.

"Reno? Reno, can you hear me?" said a voice Reno instantly recognized.

Reno tried to open his eyes, instantly regretting it as he felt a sudden jolt of pain in his head and he clenched his eyes shut.

"Aerith... " he groaned weakly. "My head.."

It was all he could manage to say. He weakly brought hand up to rub his head but found it to be difficult. After a moment or so, he managed to open his eyes. His vision blurred in and out of focus as he took in his surroundings, soon realizing he was lying in a rather ornate bed. As he rolled onto his side, he was immediately hit by a splitting headache as a sharp pain tore through his midsection.

"G-gah!" he cried out.

"Easy.." Aerith gently warned. "You need more rest.."

Reno turned toward the soft voice again and turned to see her knelt at the side of the bed. She had been in the process of treating his wounds. Reno soon took in the sight of the room, he took notice of the unusual yet colorful paintings that decorated the walls.

"W-where am I?"

"We're in my old room," Aerith replied. "This is where I lived when I was still a child."

Reno let out a slight grunt in response before he winced and slowly sat up.

"W-what happened?" he asked.

Aerith looked concerned.

"You don't remember?"

Reno turned to his left to see his partner was now standing near the bed.

"No.. I-I don't r-really.." Reno muttered.

"You were exposed to Mako.. Made into an experiment by Hojo." Rude replied.

"That a$$hole.." Reno grumbled angrily.

"You nearly became a Sephiroth clone." Cloud chimed in, crossing his arms. "You're lucky you weren't too far gone to be saved.."

Reno gave him a slight look before something came to mind and he turned to his partner.

"Hey, Rude?"

"Yes?"

"You haven't seen my flask around, have ya?"

Rude looked at him a bit confused but relented as he took the flask out of his suit and was about to hand it over when Cloud stopped him as he took notice of an all too familiar smell that seemed to be coming from the flask.

"Hold it.. Let me see that."

He took the flask from Rude and began to unscrew the top.

"Hey, get your hands off that!" Reno protested, wanting to snatch it but was still in too much pain.

Cloud ignored him and as he removed the lid, recoiled as he was hit by the smell of overly sweet apples.

"It's just as I thought.. This thing is filled with Mako." Cloud informed.

Rude and the others were shocked and horrified at this revelation, Barret having a look of disgust on his face.

"Why the h*ll would you be drinkin' the blood of the PLANET!?" he shouted.

"Hey man, it's not my fault Hojo made me crave it!" Reno shouted. "He's the one who did this to me!"

"That would explain the puncture mark.." Rude intoned. "Hojo injected you with Mako and Jenova cells to make you into an experiment."

"Yeah, we all KNOW that!" Reno snapped angrily.

He was so frustrated he wanted to scream.

"Reno, calm yourself." Rude said. "Repeated exposure to the Mako is making you act irrational."

"Well what would YOU do if YOU were hyped up on a frickin' DRUG!? Ya think YOU'D be thinking straight!?" Reno screamed right back.

Rude fell silent, the crease in his brow deepening as his friend continued.

"I'm SORRY if I can't CONTROL myself! I'm SORRY for being such a stupid DUMBA$$ that I can't FUNCTION because of this stupid SH*T Hojo pumped INTO ME!"

Rude waited until the last of Reno's words left his mouth and he was heaving for breath before speaking up.

"Are you finished?" he said.

Reno glared at him and as his anger had been spent, he turned away, not wanting them to see the tears forming in his eyes. Rude however made his way over to his partner's side, causing the younger Turk to look up.

"We will need to get the Mako out of your system."

Cloud made his way over from the other side of the room.

"There isn't really much of a cure for Mako poisoning.." he muttered. "I would know.. But you recovered being in a coma.. So that's a start."

Reno stared at him for a moment before turning his gaze to the bed. He subconsciously pulled his knees to his chest.

"So I guess that's it.." he muttered softly. "I'm.."

Reno stopped talking as he began to feel drowsy. Reno let himself lay back in the bed as he could feel his body beginning to go weak.

"Reno?"

"Hm?"

Reno looked up with half-lidded eyes.

"I'll see if we can find a way to help you recover. We have herbs at my house in the Sector 5 Slums." Aerith said gently.

Reno nodded and slowly began to doze off. Taking notice of this, the others slowly filed out to let him sleep, leaving Rude and Aerith to watch other him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Reno's recovery was slow as Aerith carefully gave him a mixture of herbs boiled into a tea with a mix of Materia to help treat his symptoms as well as his wounds. As the mixture of the tea went to work against the Mako in his system, Reno felt as though his entire body was on fire and could feel his stomach contract painfully as he rolled over and violently released the contents of his stomach onto the floor. After a moment or so, he rolled back over with a weak groan. Cold sweat drenched Reno's face, causing his crimson hair to become plastered to his skull. Taking note of this, Aerith fetched a dampened rag from the room's lone sink and carefully placed it on Reno's forehead, causing the Turk to stir.

"T-this... S...s-sucks..." he choked.

"I know it's not fun," Aerith replied. "But, this is what will help you get better."

Reno let out an annoyed grunt as he clenched his eyes shut. He felt absolutely terrible. Pain seemed to radiate through every inch of his body and already, he could feel the sudden wave of sickness wash over him and he once again rolled over to retch onto the floor. Thankfully, Rude had been quick enough to provide a bucket, preventing another mess on the floor. Rude informed the others that while the contents of Reno's stomach was still the color of Raw Mako, it was becoming less intense than it had been. Even so, they would need to continue to treat the symptoms to the best of their abilities.

As time went on, Reno was shocked to find Dr. Hojo, the man who had worked in the soldier program, the one who had caused all of what's happened to him.. Was dead. While he didn't want to believe it, as it would seem impossible to kill the man, he supposed he was in a sense relieved. However, as the thought sunk in, he couldn't help but think of what he had gone through. Part of him wanted to finish what Mako had been left in the flask, another part of him however, knew better.

It was because of the Mako that he had gotten into this mess. What was worse was the fact that Hojo had been the one to start the entire ordeal in the first place. Reno let out a groan as he tried in vain to cover his face with his hands. The door to the room slid open as Tseng entered the room.

"Any news on his condition?" he asked.

"He's got Mako poisoning.." Cloud informed, not turning in the man's direction. "Though it's not as severe as it can be, it still needs to be taken seriously."

Tseng nodded before turning back to the younger Turk.

"Reno."

Reno groaned as he cracked his eyes open.

"Hey.. Boss.." he croaked.

"How do you feel?"

"Like sh*t.."

Tseng nodded solemnly.

"You're lucky you're not dead right now.. Most people don't recover from over exposure to Mako."

Reno turned to look at him before he spoke up.

"I guess I screwed up again, huh?"

Tseng let out a sigh.

"Hojo was the one to blame," Tseng replied. "You have done nothing wrong."

Reno nodded, swallowing hard. Reno wanted to say something but turned his gaze to the far wall. Tseng soon turned to look at the others.

"Keep me updated on his progress." he said.

Aerith and the others nodded, though Cloud refused to look at him as the Turk left. As they continued into the early hours of the morning, they were sure to keep any of the Shinra guards from finding their position. They were thankful to have Tseng being their lookout for any Shinra guards and if need be, would gladly aid their escape to the Sector 5 Slums to ensure Reno's recovery.

As the days went by, Reno could feel his strength was slowly returning he slowly began to recover. He still felt a bit weak and while he was getting better, it was evident that the effects of what Reno had gone through would never leave him as Rude and the others took notice of the faint glow in the younger Turk's eyes. Much like Cloud, Reno now had the eyes of a Soldier. Regardless of the lasting effects, Reno was grateful to no longer crave Mako and had been able to recover for he knew as did everyone else that things could've been much worse.

The End

Author's Note: And so ends another story.. I apologize for taking such a long time with continuing this story, but I had been extremely busy recently and I just hadn't been in the mood to really write anything.. Like a few of my recent stories, this one was threatened to end up being discontinued.. I'm glad that wasn't the case, though I do feel I may have rushed the ending, which again I apologize.. To everyone out there, I hope you all enjoyed my story and have a great day