Title: It's a Sin part 2/2

Author: Enide Dear

Rating: Swearing, explicit sex, infidelity and some violence. Not necessarily in that order

Pairing: Cid/Vincent, Cid/OMC

Summary: Don't send a boy to do a man's work

Authors' note: Yeah, I know there's been a lot of Reno in my fics lately but he's just such a recipe for catastrophe that I can't help but use him as a catalyst *grins*

Muse: Pet Shop Boys lyrics: 'Cause everything I longed to do, no matter when or where or who, has this thing in common to: It's a Sin.

Feedback: Will be adored and squeed over

The bike was fast, and Vincent rode it recklessly into the waste around Midgard, but it was, of course, no use. Single-mindedly desperate, he followed the tiny spec that was Cid's plane until it was swallowed up by the night sky and not even his red eyes could fool themselves into believing they saw it anymore.

As soon as it was out of sight and Vincent's focus faltered, his demons pounced on him, shrieking with glee. They tore into his mind, filling it with images of what he'd done, of Cid's betrayed face, of Reno's warm body, of his own treacherous actions, and he could just cling to his sanity by the nails. The bike started to skid from side to side as he quickly lost control, he slid over some loose gravel, bounced against a rock, and then he went down in a cacophony of engine roars and demon howls and his own blazing self-loathing.

When he awoke, Vincent lay still for a long while, just blinking and breathing and trying to move his aching body. A quick, instinctive mental check told him that nothing was broken, nothing too torn, and cuts and bruises were the worst of his aches. It was still nigh around him, and the bike's engine next to him was warm, so he couldn't have been passed out too long. Slowly he sat up and threw a quick glance over his shoulder.

"Stop trying to hide, Reno. My demons can smell you." He said wearily.

A very tense and frightened young face appeared behind a rocky outcrop, sparkling electric rod in hand, and coiled for flight or fight at the slightest threatening motion.

"Are you…all human, man?" Reno asked warily, clutching his rod.

"What do you think?" Vincent snapped and tried to get to his feet.

"I don't know." Reno edged reluctantly around the rock. "You've been snarling and growling and clawing at the ground since I got here." He licked his lips nervously. "Even now, your eyes are….well, they're flickering. In yellow."

"The demons. They get closer to the surface when I get upset. Cid used to..." he groaned, a sound that was only half-human, and buried his face in his hands. Reno backed away a few steps, but when Vincent looked up again, his eyes were still red. "What are you doing here, anyway? How did you get here?"

"Stole a car." Reno shrugged and moved closer again. "Been watching over you while you were…gone. The wastes are no place to be lying around unprotected. It can draw all kinds of nasties."

"Yes, I can see that." Muttering, Vincent came to his feet and started to salvage the bike. It seemed to be in the same state he was – battered and bruised but still working. "What happened to your face?"

"Rude hit me. I'll have to thank him for that later."

"What?"

"Never mind. Look, I came to apologise, a'right?" Reno shuffled his feet. "I wanted to say I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Vincent turned and his red-yellow eyes glowed in the dark. "What is this, some new Turk trick?"

For a second Reno looked genuinely hurt and very young. Then he said slowly, without looking away from Vincent.

"Just because I don't have what you guys have, or even thinks it makes much sense, doesn't mean I can appreciate it, or feel sorry I broke it."

Vincent's eyes turned red and he slumped over the bike.

"Reno…it wasn't your fault. I don't know and I don't care what kind of relationship you have with Rufus, or Rude or Tseng, or whoever. But Cid and I…he's the only one I trust, and he…trusted me…" Vincent's voice faltered away and he hunched over the bike as if hiding or hurt. A shake rattled his body, but when Reno tentatively reached out for him, he slapped the hand harshly aside.

"Don't touch me! I have to get to Rocket Town. I have to find Cid!" He kick started the bike, but Reno lounged for his arm.

"Vince! Wait!"

"You have no right calling me that! Get off me!"

"Alright, alright," Reno panted, still hanging on. "Just listen to me – Cid ain't going to Rocket Town!"

"What?"

"He's not going home, yo! He's not going to Rocket Town!"

Vincent's eyes suddenly blazed – red, green, cold violet, yellow, as all his demons fought his personality for dominion and he grabbed Reno by the shirt, lifting him effortlessly from the ground.

"Are you insinuating you know my Cid better than I do?" he growled.

"You are not thinking straight, damn it!" Reno struggled and kicked in vain. "And neither is he – he's hurt and angry. He ain't going home!"

"And you would know all about not thinking straight, don't you?" Vincent snarled but dropped him. His eyes were red again, but fringed with demonic yellow. "So where is he?"

"I'll tell you," Reno coughed on the ground, "if you let me come along, so I can apologise to him."

He looked up, and met the cold stare of Cerebus.

"Why do you care, Turk?" Vincent's voice was cold as death.

"Because I'm a Turk!" Reno spluttered, raising his hands in a non-threatening manner and rather pointlessly shuffling away to put a few yards between him and the hit man. "That's what we do – we fix things, we take care of problems. Especially if we caused them ourselves, a'right? And you…you are going to be a problem, aren't you? Your demons are. You need Cid to keep you fucking sane, man! I screwed that up, and now I must fix it. And….and…" He sighed. "I really want to tell him I'm sorry."

Slowly Vincent lowered the gun.

"Where did he go?" he asked wearily.

"I got a phone call from Rude about an hour ago. Cid must have turned around. He went back to Midgard."

"What? Why? Where?" Vincent startled.

"You'll let me come along?"

"Reno…yes. Just tell me. Before I loose all patience."

"He went to Sector Eight. He went to…to the Honey Bee Inn."

"The what?"

"The brothel, Vincent."

The words hit Vincent like a punch in the gut; gasping for air he almost fell of the bike. His mind – helped by the demons – assailed him with myriads of mental images of Cid, his Cid, naked underneath someone, or above someone, moaning, panting, laughing….

"No," He whispered, a whisper that rose to a cry. "Nononononono!" But he knew it was true; it made too much sense not to be true. He felt suddenly sick, achingly, horrifyingly sick and hurt and betrayed, but the real searing pain came from the knowledge that he'd brought this upon himself, that he deserved anything Cid might do. Because he, Vincent, had done so first.

When he looked up his eyes were more yellow than red.

"Get up," he growled at Reno who swallowed fear an scrambled on board the bike behind Vincent, gingerly putting his arms around the dark man's lean waist. He'd barely got a grip before Vincent wrestled the bike around and sped heedlessly back towards Midgard.

Vincent was off the bike and halfway up the stairs to the garishly lit brothel before the bike had even really stopped. The bouncers hurried to stop him – which would probably have meant their deaths – but Reno waved frantically with a ShinRa Inc business card and shouted:

"ShinRa business! Step aside!"

The bouncers hesitated long enough for the two of them to barge through the doors. The id – card was really just a napkin Reno had palmed in the dining room once, but it was white and it had the ShinRa logo so it looked official enough. From a distance.

Vincent didn't seem to notice the thick carpets or the lewd paintings on the walls as he ran up to the man behind the reception desk and tore him up to come face – to – face with the half demon ex-Turk.

"Where is he? Is he here?" Vincent snarled.

"What? Who?" the man flailed his arms helplessly.

"Vincent…put him down, man." Tensed for guards, Reno looked around as Vincent slowly lowered the man, who stumbled backwards, angry and frightened.

"Reno, what the Hell is this? If you Turks want to place another spy here again, this is no way of filing a job application!"

"No, I don't need a job this time, Kurt. Just listen – we need to find someone, and we think he might be here tonight. A pilot. Short, blond guy. You've seen him?"

"He's not that short!" Vincent snapped.

"You are sure you don't need a job? We still got customers asking for you, you know…" Kurt trailed of as Vincent drew Cerebus with a snarl. "The blond, testy guy? Mr Highwind?" He spluttered.

"Well, of course, Cid's the only one in the world who wouldn't use a fake name at a brothel." Reno rolled his eyes. "Yes, him."

"Came in about an hour ago. One strange customer – asked for our cheapest room and cheapest guy."

Reno's cheeks flushed, quite certain he knew what Cid meant by that. *I was fucking expensive, I'll have you know!* he thought angrily, but swallowed the thought.

"Third room on the second floor." Kurt pointed at the stairs and Vincent ran for them. "But – hey! You can't go up there!" He reached for the alarm button, but Reno was far quicker. The electric rod sparkled and Kurt leaped back, clutching his hand. Before he had time to protest, Reno clubbed him on the neck, sending him face down and unconscious on the carpet.

"Hope that won't affect my next salary discussion here," Reno muttered and hurried up after Vincent.

A young, average looking man came out of the third room, counting out quite a lot more gils than Vincent was sure his services usually called for. The young man shrank back as he saw the dark apparition bearing down on him, but Vincent couldn't have cared less about him. Shoving the prostitute aside, he ran into the room.

It was a small but clean room, nothing more than a moderate size bed and a window through which the rising dawn could finally be seen. Cid was sitting on the window sill, smoking and staring out, wearing nothing but his cargo pants and looking tired and worn and hurt to the core of his being. He turned around, surprised, as the door flew open, but had no time to say or do anything before Vincent threw himself to his knees in front of him, clutching at Cid's waist with his long arms and buried his face against Cid's lap.

"I'm sorry Cid, I'm so sorry, so sorry, please, please take me back, I won't…I'll never hurt you again, I swear it, I'm so sorry…" he sobbed against the stiff, reluctant body. The very smell of Cid, the warmth he projected, it all helped to push the demons back, to make him more human, but with that humanity came sharper pain and despair and self-loathing. Without Cid…there would be nothing but endless darkness.

For a few, slow seconds, the world and Vincent's heartbeats stood still. Then Cid sighed, and relaxed, and Vincent felt a callused, rough skinned but gentle hand slide through his long hair.

"Vince," he said hoarsely with too many emotions. "I couldn't…What the Hell is *he* doing here?!"

The caress in Vincent's hair turned into a grip that harshly pushed him away as Cid came to his feet. Like a wounded animal, the captain roared and pointed at a wide-eyed and frightened Reno:

"I can even get it fucking *up* with a damned whore, and ya bring him along when ya want to say ya are sorry?!"

"I…Cid…" Vincent stammered, still on his knees on the floor, but dread cold stealing his words. His eyes flickered from red to yellow, but Cid seemed not to have noticed. He'd already turned back to Reno and grabbed him, pushing him against the wall. Air left Reno's longs when he was slammed against the plaster, and panicking he pushed his electric rod against Cid's chest. But Cid just grunted and tore the thing away to clatter on the floor. The pilot rose a threateningly big fist, his blue eyes a blaze with wrath and pain.

"No, Cid!" Vincent managed. "It wasn't his fault, it was mine, I'm the one you should punish!"

Cid seemed to crumble a bit and when he turned towards Vincent he whispered:

"I can't hurt ya, Vince. Ya know that. Not even now." He turned back towards Reno with a snarl. "But this punk…"

"Cid, no!" Reno managed. "I'm sorry for what I did, but don't hit me! No violence! Can't you see he's on the edge?!"

But it was too late; Cid's heavy fist hit Reno across the face, spraying blood as the lip split and the nose broke for the second time that night.

"That felt damned good." Cid let Reno go, but an inhuman – but far too familiar – snarl behind him made his hackles rise. "Oh, shit!" he mumbled as he turned around.

Where Vince had kneeled, now Chaos hovered. Dark red wings, the colour of Vincent's cloak, spread out across the room, sucking up the faint dawn light, sharp bone - white fangs glimmered in the once - human face, demon eyes glowed yellow without a trace of red. It was as if someone had drawn a demonic veil over Vincent's familiar face and body, and that made it even more horrendous. Chaos turned Vincent's bloodless lips into a cold smile.

Cid recoiled, just one step, before standing his ground.

"Get out." He growled at the now terrified Reno. "Get out, now!"

"No! We have to fight it, I'll help you…"

"This is man's business, and yer just a boy, so get the Hell out of here!"

Reno turned and fled.

"Vince? Vince, ya hear me?" Cid edged carefully closer towards the bed where his spear leaned against the wall amongst a pile of his clothes.

"Vincent isn't here, Cid." Chaos smiled. "Well, he is, but he isn't in a state to listen."

"Ya can fight it, Vince. I know ya can. Just shove the bastard back where he belongs!" Cid snarled, ignoring Chaos' words.

"Fight me? I guess he could." Chaos stepped closer, his huge wings covering the room in darkness. "If he wanted to. But he doesn't want to fight me, Cid. He just wants to cower away, to hide and snivel and cry over how this is all his fault. And you know what the beauty of it all is?" With a sudden quick motion Chaos sprang forward, grabbing Cid who had made a lounge for his weapon. But the demon was faster; it grabbed him and pinned him to the wall. A cold, slick tongue crept along Cid's neck.

"The beauty is that it is all Vincent's fault. All of this. None of us were in control when he cheated on you, Cid. In fact, we were rather surprised. Infidelity isn't really like him at all."

"I ain't talking to ya!" Cid growled, trying to pry away from the not-quite-Vincent body that pressed against him, rubbing a knee between his legs and a sharp-fanged face against his neck. "Vince, c'me on! Snap back, please! Just fight them!"

"Don't you worry," Chaos purred and started ripping at Cid's pants with the metal claw, shredding them. "We'll take just as good care of you as Vincent did. Better, in fact. Oh yes, we're all eager to ride the Highwind…"

Suddenly, the demon snarled and dropped Cid who threw himself towards his discarded things. Reno had sneaked up behind the distracted demon and stabbed at its neck with the full force of his electric rod. It would have killed an ordinary man, but Chaos just grabbed him and flung him across the room, before turning towards the far greater threat of Cid and Venus Gospel.

But Cid hadn't reached for his spear. Instead, he'd torn out a small box from his jacket pocked and ripped it open. When Chaos turned around, the pilot was down on one knee, holding something small and golden between callused fingers. He swallowed hard.

"Vince…I know ya can hear me. Please. I love ya. Will ya marry me?"

Chaos stopped dead in its tracks. The yellow eyes flared a quick red.

"I…I wanted to ask ya at the party. Feels like a million years ago, don't it? I figured with all those people around, ya wouldn't be able to say no to me…" Cid stammered, still kneeling in front of the demon, frightened and trembling, but not for fear of Chaos.

"And then I figured I'd throw it from the plane, but I couldn't, 'cause…'cause I still love ya, Vince. And I forgive ya for being drunk and stupid and all, just…just come back to me, alright? Come back and say ya'll stay with me. Will ya do that? Will ya marry me?"

Reno couldn't watch as the near-instant transformation happened, wings drawn back, fangs disappearing, humanity restored – it was all to damned freaky. But when he looked up next Vincent was laying in Cid's arms, crying but smiling, his eyes red again, and on his human hand was a flash of gold.

Reno had enough tact to leave the room as quietly as he could.

Neither he nor any other Turk was invited to the wedding a few months later, but that didn't matter.

They all showed up anyway.