So, my first fanfic posted up here, so I hope you like it. Please review if you do, and review if you don't; if I'm going wrong somewhere, it's be great to know where so I can (hopefully) improve next time around.
This was greatly inspired by the song Disappear by Dream Theater, and I don't own the song. Nor do I own any parts of Final Fantasy VII.
"You think he should be doing this?" She asks, voice slightly trembling as he straightens her tie with one hand, the other on her shoulder. He shakes his head at her.
"Honestly, I don't think this is the time, but I don't think there will ever be a right time. If he wants to clear his name, people have to know he is there, trying to do so."
"But it'll be dangerous." That's all this job ever is.
"It will be, Elena, but it is what must be done. Besides, I know you can keep him safe." Tseng presses his lips to Elena's dipped forehead and sends her to Rufus' side with a small squeeze of her shoulder. His thin lips curve into a smile as he notices the slight tinge of pink in Elena's cheeks. After four years, she still blushes at every slight touch, but he finds that he wouldn't have it any other way.
"Tseng!" He turns to Reno, who gestures to the crowds. Tseng nods, and then raises one eyebrow. "Rude's on his way." Reno replies to the question that the eyebrow asks, and Tseng smiles, slightly proud, in an odd sort of way, of the fact he and Reno need few words to communicate. Makes it easier on missions, certainly. Tseng heads into the crowd of people Reno jabbed his thumb at and makes his way close to the stage, trying to blend in in his civilian clothes. Reeve had proposed that Rufus should reveal his identity as the benefactor of the WRO, and Rufus, who had been quietly starting to put up the foundations of a new ShinRa company, had thought it was a good idea. Tseng disagreed, and still does; it's an unnecessary risk, but Rufus is a stubborn man to move. Tseng keeps his hand on the handgun concealed in the pocket of his combat trousers; index finger already curled around the trigger and tries to listen to Reeve.
"I present to you, the benefactor of the World Regenesis Organisation and all current and former sister projects..." As his name is called, Rufus steps out into the sunlight, flanked by Elena and Rude. The sound of Rufus' highly-polished boots seems to be multiplied tenfold by the complete and utter silence of the crowd. They stand motionless, as if waiting for the punch line, for Reeve to step forward and say 'just kidding' and put on a cheesy grin. But Reeve has taken a step back, face paling; he is not going to be stepping forward anytime soon. He looks to Rude, then to Elena, and he notices how she has tensed, how her eyes have narrowed and she squints, ever so slightly. Then everything happens at once.
She steps in front of Rufus, pushing him back with one hand as she grabs her Shortbarrel with the other. Two gunshots boom through the humid air, and suddenly Tseng can't see Elena anymore. HIs vision blurs for a second while he tries to process, and he catches a blur of red in front of Rufus, but he never saw Reno climb onto the stage. Then his mind catches up and he begins to push to the front, frantically shoving people to the side. He knows he is compromising the mission, but his legs won't stop running. He can hear strangled cries, and knows they're his, and you'd have to be ignorant to not realise he's a Turk now, but... Elena. It's like running through water, for all the progress he's making, or maybe tar. He was little over ten feet away from her, but now it stretches into hundreds, thousands, and he's miles away from her. His hands find the oak lip of the stage and he pulls himself up, rolling over to her, refusing to waste precious seconds standing up for his dignity. He reaches her, and the first tear makes its track down his face. Her suit is stained deep purple with blood and she gasps for air. Rufus steps back, to let Tseng sit by her side and Rude presses his Cure materia into Tseng's palm before cocking his gun and jumping into the crowd.
He can hear her breaths, no more than short gasps as he slots the materia into his concealed bracer and channels everything into a Cure spell. Again and again, he pumps her full of Cure, but the blood doesn't stop, the neat hole a few inches below her heart doesn't change. His magic becomes more frantic and less effective as he begins to shake, but he can't help it because it's not working even though it has to because she can't die, not now not ever and-
She grabs his hand, forcing him to look at her, those brown eyes that he's studied so many times over. She smiles slightly, but he can sense her fear. She's scared of dying, and he's scared of her dying.
"You're rambling." He laughs, a short, sharp bark, because the roles have been reversed so drastically it's almost humorous. She should be the one rambling, not him. He should be the one laying there, not her. She's too good to die like a Turk, and he's not good enough to die any other way. So why is this happening? He brings her hand to his lips as she watches him, just lays and watches, and for the moment, it's just the two of them. He shakes his head, lips brushing against knuckles, refusing, refusing to believe this, but she begins to nod and he looks at her again. This time, it's not just fear he sees. It's acceptance of fate, and it sends a chill through him. She knows it's mortal, but she accepts it.
"No." He states, as firmly as he'd give an order. It is an order. She can accept this, but he can't. He can't do this, but he has to; her light is fading fast. He shifts, until he is laid beside her and he begins to whisper to her as he interlocks his fingers with hers.
"It's okay, let it go. It's time to leave here-" His voice hitches, but she smiles at him again, encouraging him. He reckons the words are more for him than for her, but he carries on regardless. "I'll carry on, the best I can, without-" He stops altogether this time, unable to complete his words, even though he has to tell her. "-Without you here beside me." She squeezes his hand.
"Don't give up." Her eyes flutter, and Tseng jerks up, a stab of worry digging into him, but they open again and he remembers to breathe. "I got him, by the way. The sniper." He smiles back, despite himself. Only she would give a mission report at such a time, lacking in detail as it was.
"I love you, Elena." He chokes the words out and her eyes flutter again. He feels the life seeping out of her through the bullet hole and her eyes shut. Her ragged breathing cuts off, and she dies with a smile. The tears flow freely now, as he begins to go numb and the finer details of the world merge into each other again. Her hand still rests in his as he finishes what he was saying.
"Let them come take you home." The same words he spoke to his mother, as she died in his arms all those years ago. But whereas she had fought the Reaper with every one of her severely numbered breaths, Elena had welcomed him with outstretched arms.
A testament to her friendly nature.
The death of his mother had pushed him over the edge. He'd become a Turk, killed for a pay check and comfortable apartment, done countless unspeakable things to people he'd never known. He'd become cold, calculating, almost clinical in his nature. He'd carried on, but if that was the best he could do without his mother there, what would happen to him now Elena had left him? Another blur of red, this time actually Reno, then he fades to black, like she had done before him.
The next thing he sees with clarity is her funeral. The day is as sunny as it was when she-
They stand around the newly-turned patch of earth, just the four of them. Because who else would mourn a Turk? She could've been the nicest... she is... was the nicest person, but she was still a Turk, and that blackened people's perceptions. So it was just the four of them, in their best suits, sunglasses covering their eyes, but not because of the sun. Elena would've laughed; Tseng could see it as if it was happening at this moment.
"I was wondering when Hojo would get 'round to cloning Rude."
They stood in silence for what seemed like hours, days, months, but also an instant, before Reno crouched down, laying all five of her Elite Emblems into the dirt before leaving. Rude dips his head, before following without a word. He feels bad for not leaving anything, but there's no physical manifestation for his regret. He regrets not getting to know her from the start, dismissing her as an incompetent Rookie just because Reno did. Rufus lays her modified Shortbarrel down, along with a single tear, and that's when Tseng knows she wasn't just special to him. A Shinra doesn't cry for just anybody, but she had saved his life, and if she had been standing here, he certainly wouldn't have been. He nods to Tseng and leaves the Turk Director alone. Tseng kneels, eyes bare of tears as he lays down his offering: four flowers, tied with an orange ribbon; her favourite colour.
A yellow tulip, because he had been hopelessly in love with her, and still was. A red rose and a white one, wound together, as they had been a single unit, both in love and on missions. He'd known what she was going to do before she did, and vice versa. He also thought she was like a rose; prickly on the outside, but under that layer, the most beautiful thing he could ever hope to lay eyes on. Finally, just peeping out of the back, a forget-me-not.
Remember me forever, because I'll never forget.