[ A/N: Greetings. I thank you for your time and consideration in reading this story. Unfortunately, this is a companion piece to another's story: "I Let Them go" but primarily to it's sequel "He Let me Live" by SageQuill. I recommend reading both stories and up to Chapter 86 of the second as this conversation will make no sense otherwise.
That said, this is meant to take place almost immediately after Ch 86 (though likely somewhere in Ch 87) and was done strictly for the fun of it. Sage is well aware that I have posted this piece.
Once more, I thank you for your time in reading this piece. I do hope you enjoy.]
The sound of metal striking the floor caught his attention; the soft rustle of cloth following that. The man glanced over his shoulder, raising a curious brow at his former partner. It seemed that Vincent was still rather hesitant when it came to vocalizing his thoughts.
"Some things never change." He mused to himself.
"You've made enough arrangements for the night. You haven't yet spoken with Reeve on the matter either." His old friend reminded. If he hadn't known better, he might have thought the caped man tired. "I am not the one you should be worrying about."
Verdot's eyes traveled to both Tseng and Cissnei, reminded that he should have been impressed they were both still standing. Perhaps Vincent was right after all.
"We will finish this discussion at dawn." In this he gave the lead to the young woman he had seen grow from a frightened child. A shame that the recent months had marred her so.
"Sir," she muttered, too exhausted to care for his assessment.
As he watched her every movement, the former Turk leader's eyes narrowed. The expression carried over as his eyes hardened on Tseng. "We will have words on this matter indoors."
The Wutai man winced, likely fighting back a snarl of his own. Though he too wanted nothing more than to find a quiet corner to make himself comfortable and sleep for the next year, Tseng nodded. "Very well."
A sigh sounded behind him and he blinked at Vincent. Cissnei, at least chose to ignore the sound. "For the best."
Red eyes regarded him carefully, calculatingly. You have changed.
"I grew up." He couldn't help his amused smile at the older gunman's raised brow. "From what I understand, you've been tending to a pup of your own."
Tseng's escape from this conversation – curious about the subject matter though he was –did not go by unnoticed. That was fine. It was, after all, what had been asked of him. Strange though, that Vincent would decide to take pity on the man.
"It's not pity. You want him awake; don't you?"
"Ah," the old leader nodded as he understood, a hint of a devious smirk tugging at his lips. "You won't be in the room."
Vincent's eyes shown with mirth as he strode passed, his human hand tapping at his ear. "No, but I'll be able to listen."
With no one watching him as he stood in the street bathed in Meteor's light, Verdot allowed himself a smirk. Indeed.
It never ceased to impress just how observant mothers could be. She might not have known his Turks with any sense of familiarity but Tuesti's mother doted heavily upon Thomas. The young blond soaked in the attention unconsciously, much to the amusement to the others. Reno, no doubt would continue to poke and prod at the pup. At least he meant no harm with his words. This time.
Tseng was almost finished with a small bowl of soup, biting back a contemptuous snarl each time he sipped from the coffee. He still hadn't learned how to handle the bitter drink, no matter how much tea he consumed.
He could hear water coursing through the pipes, guessing it was Shuriken who was taking the time to enjoy the rare treat. Considering her adventures of late, he could not fault her for the indulgence.
"Ma'am," Verdot called to the older woman. "We appreciate your hospitality in allowing us to barge in on you without prior warning."
Her dark eyes narrowed, telling him exactly what she thought of their intrusion into her home. If it weren't for his reputation, that of his Turks and the fact that they were there, in part at least, to help her son restore some semblance of order to Midgar, Verdot had no doubt she would tell him where he could file away his thanks. He had no doubt she would assist him in finding that location if he needed the "assistance".
"It's my pleasure," she returned politely.
No one, not even Elena, missed the clipped tone or the fact that she was biting back her true feelings. Perhaps Margaret's sister did have some hope after all.
The tinker quickly and quietly steered his mother out of the room under the pretense of gathering more food and drink for the assembled crowd. A shame as he had one more questions to ask of her.
Vincent peeled himself away from the corner he had taken residence in, lightly brushing against him as he walked passed. "This way."
He blinked deliberately slowly. "Tseng, Reno. With me."
A tense silence fell upon those gathered, thick and wary. Even so, Reno, who had been sitting between Rude and Sanosuke pushed back at his chair in order to rise. Tseng, on the other hand, wounded or not was able to move with near silence.
The three followed Vincent, until a small twitch of left hand indicated which doorway to pass through for the private conversation. The red and black garbed gunman kept walking; though Verdot knew he would turn about and stand as sentry at the door the moment they were all within.
It was a craft room with a sewing table and its walls covered in projects that were in various states of completion. From the look of it, it wasn't for a lack of trying though. It seemed that the lighting in this room needed to be improved upon for that.
Tseng tried not to let his weariness show but he was as bad as hiding that as Reno his trepidation; especially once the door was closed and locked. A quiet shuffle not ten seconds later told him his anticipation of his former partner had not been wrong.
"As concisely as possible, explain to me, exactly how it came to be that Cissnei was left to fend for herself all over Gaia?" Arms crossed over his chest as he watched the two men with rapt attention. One of his brows rose in question when neither his replacement nor his second made any moves other than to keep breathing.
"Do you, perhaps, recall a SOLDIER by the name of Zack Fair?" At last Tseng seemed to recall himself and his position.
Good.
"Hewley's own pup." Gods he could remember how much trouble the rambunctious teenager had gotten himself in to without even trying. He recalled that Cissnei had a fondness for him as well. As far as SOLDIERs went, the boy hadn't been the worst and had potential for greatness.
"Five years ago…"
"None of that explains just why you left her following Fair's demise." His gaze locked on Reno who flinched back several steps, his head hanging. "Between the pair of you, you should have known better."
Tseng, on the other hand, was audibly grinding his teeth. "Sir-"
"It's not that we didn't want to, Boss," Reno interrupted before his superior could irritate their joint leader. "Problem was that, at the time, we weren't sure where the shot had come from. For all we knew it was SOLDIER and the general infantry against us. I…"
This was perhaps the hardest report he had had to deliver in years.
"I made the call to pull back." Verdot did and said nothing of the self-loathing and inwardly directed anger he saw in the pair of green eyes. "At least that way if she survived the crash, she might have a chance to escape and live. Especially if we were the ones that wrote her off… And hey, it worked out since she did make it out and she did manage to pull herself back together. Granted I didn't think she'd actually run off and join AVALANCHE…"
"I expect that type of behavior and reasoning from Tseng, but from you Reno?" Verdot -had to pause, biting his tongue before continuing. "I find I am severely disappointed. I expected you, of all people, to want to verify her status and if she was deceased to grant her the proper burial she deserved."
The vow he had procured from the red head some years ago to always keep an eye on Shuriken hung between them.
No amount of anguish or hatred would be enough for him. As it was, it wasn't him that needed the apology from Reno; even if he did get one, he wouldn't accept it any year soon. What was more, the youngest Turk in the room had yet to declare that he had made the wrong decisions in the aftermath of the attack on Shuriken. Perhaps he still had much to learn after all.
"What of your excuse Tseng? Will you hide behind your second? The rookie? Or perhaps your position as leader and your responsibilities to the presidency?"
The Wutai man was literally biting his tongue, a habit he had developed when under great duress and stress. Even so, Verdot could see the thoughts flying through his eyes, minutely altering the positions of the lids, lashes and brows. The nearly invisible cracks reached as far down as the younger man's lips and the snarl they only barely concealed.
"Your first responsibility is to assure the safety of the presidency. Under the second fall all company secrets. Third, and perhaps the most important is the safety of those under your direct command.
"With the president safely secure in ShinRa Tower and all information under lockdown, there should have been nothing to interfere in your duty to your fellow Turks. What. Happened?"
For a moment it looked as if Reno were about to interject on the behalf of his superior once again. A stern glare had the red head cowering back against the far wall, his right shoulder resting against the surface as he gazed away from the pair of older men. Submission through avoidance; the most show of deference the ERM wielder was capable of demonstrating of late. Even so, Verdot did not miss the clenching of his jaw in a desperate attempt to bite back his own responses.
Tseng, on the other hand, tried desperately to hold himself firm and straight as the heavy gaze was focused on him again. The Wutai man, ragged and worn though he was, met the stare evenly. At the very minimum, Verdot could acknowledge that the current leader had grown in his absence.
"With respect to Shuriken's abilities and tenacity toward pushing forward no matter how distasteful she might find matters, I had hoped that she perished in the crash, sir."
Reno whirled, glaring with perhaps the most vicious snarl and show of his teeth that the old man had ever seen. Quite frankly, he was surprised that he hadn't physically lashed out.
"Explain yourself," though the words may have been spoken quietly he had no doubt the others heard the steel behind them. It was the rarest of things to wish death upon a fellow Turk and, to be frank, Verdot wanted the younger man dead for the words.
"For all her skill and dedication to the Turks Cissnei herself was never cut out to be one. It is a position, rank and occupation she has always loathed. When recruited as a child, though she had potential then, it would have been a greater mercy to never have been trained to be one of us. Everything she did, initially at least, she did in the hopes to earn praise and acceptance. With the way we operate, the way we train those, someone of her age should not have survived. This life has and always will be torture to her. I had hoped that she would no longer have to lead this type of life style.
"That was my goal, and my reasoning, sir." There was a different type of flame shining bright in the dark haired man. "These were all concerns and issues I had brought to your attention often and every time they were brushed aside."
Reno, at least, was mollified by the explanation, his hackles slowly relaxing back into a smooth coat. It was clear that he still wanted to snap and perhaps even strike but he would keep himself under control. Verdot had no doubt that their own relationship had suffered some with the declaration but words, like actions, had consequences and that was one lesson Tseng still hadn't quite grasped. Or, perhaps he did and simply didn't care at the moment.
"While I can appreciate your logic concerning Shuriken, it still does not excuse your callousness regarding her wellbeing-"
"My callousness sir? Mine?" It was a wonder the others hadn't managed to catch the sound and come running to the door.
Then again, perhaps they had tried but with Vincent as guard, it was unlikely they would attempt to push their way through…
"In this regard, yes, Tseng." No matter what, he could not deny that Tseng had always cared, perhaps a little too much, about the girl, now woman. "As I have said, I do understand where you emotions regarding Cissnei are, however because of your fondness for her, you did owe it to her to assure that, had she managed to survive, she did not fall into the hands of another department. Knowing Scarlet, if she had thought to look as well, what exactly do you think would have happened to her then? What's more, had her injuries been severe enough to remove her from active duty but not enough to kill her outright it should have fallen to you to grant her any mercy possible. As it is, we're lucky that neither of scenarios played out.
"Remember, Tseng, that our lives are filled with uncertainty and death can come from any angle. One thing, the one thing we should always be able to rely upon is each other. It falls to myself, you, Reno or any one of us to make certain that we are not left alone in the world. We simply cannot survive without help of the others. It is a part of our training. We're rather very fortunate she was able to ally herself with another group. Even if it was AVALANCHE.
Reno snorted, no doubt still angry himself that Cissnei had, because of all of their mistakes, turned traitor, in a sense. After all, no matter where she had gone before, she was with them in the here and now. It had been her choice, for once, and they would all have to work on mending the fragile trust she had for them.
"Gods and Goddess forbid there be a next time but, should there ever be one…"
"We'll leave no room for doubt," Tseng finished, resigned and determined.
They owed it to each other and it was only right.