A NIGHT
IN HEAVEN
A NIGHT
IN HEAVEN
Written
by Matt Taylor.
Disclaimer: The characters below are the
property of Squaresoft. I receive
no money from this, and am doing for my
own amusement.
"Seventh Heaven." Tseng
thought to himself as he slowly looked
around the decrepit bar, here in Sector
Seven. He sat their thoughfully,
un-drunken drink in hand, looking over
the pathetic clientele that came
here. He looked around the table and saw
his fellow Turks, Reno, Rude, and
Elena sitting there. Reno was, as usual
almost drunk, Elena was trying to
make herself look high class, 'Course
how she could do that here was a big
question, and while Rude seemed to be
his normal cold self, Tseng could
see his gaze slowly drift off to the
waitress behind the bar.
Of course Rude was the one who
wanted to come here, mainly just to
stare at the waitress, who also
apparently owned the place. Far as he was
concerned, the woman was more than
likely a slut, I mean look at the way
she dresses! He had heard something
about martial arts, when Rude was
talking about her, but he doubted it was
true. He knew that she would
never go for Rude, though. Rude never even talked with her! He almost
felt
sorry for him, almost. Girl like that
would probably just be trouble
anyway.
"Hey Tssseng!" Said
Reno, through the immense amounts of alcohol he
had been drinking. "You heard
anything about that....that....you
know....the....brunette?"
"The Ancient you idiot."
He said quietly. "And try not to blurt out
classified orders in a bar, Huh!?"
"Sooorrrry. Man this stuff is
pretty......" Reno stumbled again, now
obviously completely drunk.
"Good." Said Rude.
"Huh?" He replied,
looking at him with one eye closed.
"The word you are looking for
is "good", This stuff is pretty good."
Said Rude, with the usual, almost
emotionless voice. Tseng decided to turn
himself away from whatever conversation
would develop there, and turned
toward Elena, who tried to sip her
drink, like a civilized woman. Course
it was all an act. Tseng knew that
Elena, despite her good intentions, was
a rookie, and probably wouldn't be truly
civilized until she got more
comfortable in the suit.
"What you been up to
Elena?" He asked. She almost jumped then,
surprised at the intrusion into her
attempts.
"Me.....? I been....Well, I
been looking into reports of some temple
on a southern continent." Tseng
banged his hand into his forehead. Elena
had done things like this before.
"Elena. I told you not to
look into that without me there, you
remember Heidegarr's orders?" He
said, referring to the Turk's Boss at
Shinra.
"I.....I'm sorry sir, I
thought if I did it myself I might...."
Tseng waved it off then, He wanted to
relax tonight, and listening to the
latest tale of how Elena screwed up her
latest perfectly simple job could
wait for another night. They both jerked
around then, to see Reno, more
tipsy than they had ever seen him before
standing up and pointing at
another customer.
"You listen pal! My mother
was a saint! If you or your &%$*ing pal
want to talk like that, when can go
outside!" Reno started to pull his
electro-cane from his belt, but Rude
stepped up and blocked him from the
two confused customers.
"Reno, they didn't say
anything about your mother." He said, trying
to get his partner to sit down. "I
was listening. They didn't even use the
word "mother."
"Bull-shit man! I heard 'em
say it loud and clear." Tseng got up
then. And pushed Reno back into his
seat.
"Hey! No fighting in here! If
you want to fight, go outside." Said
the waitress voice from behind the bar.
Rude looked over and saw she was
talking with some guy with spiky blonde
hair, and some huge sword on his
back, he looked away and back to Reno
then. Reno was starting to calm
down. For some reason he was now crying.
"Ah, man! Why they gotta talk
about Mom like that?" He said through
the alcohol inspired tears.
"Reno! Listen to me."
Tseng said trying to make sure he heard every
word. "They were not speaking about your mother. You are
hearing things."
"No I'm not. I heard 'em say
it." He said, still crying. All of a
sudden the tears stopped, and he called
out to the waitress "Hey!
"Nother...r...round up here."
The waitress looked less than please to give
"another" drink to Reno, she
noticed the other three hadn't even finished
their first ones, Reno had already gone
through seven!
"I think you've had
enough." She said, trying to sound concerned.
"I'll tell yah when I've had
enough you sorry Bi...." That was all
that got out, as Rudes hand quickly
covered his partner's mouth, while
Tseng sighed and said, "That'll be
all." The waitress returned to the bar.
He noticed then, that when Reno had
started to badmouth the waitress, the
man with the sword grabbed it's hilt.
"Awfully protective, that
guy. Probably her boyfriend." Tseng
though. He looked over and saw Rude had
probably figured that out to, he
looked away again. Rude was an okay guy
really, a little rough sometimes,
but okay, and he was probably the only
one out of the current Turks he
trusted completely. The last one he
could say that about disappeared in
Nibleheim, back when Hojo and Ghast were
working there. What was his name?
Vincent?
"Uuuuhhh." He looked and
saw Reno rub his head, the starting of the
large hangover he was going to have tomorrow.
Tseng shook his head in a
pitying way, and took a small sip from
his drink. He had never been much
on Alcoholic drinks, 'course Reno
ordered for everyone before they could
speak. It really wasn't that bad, but,
unlike other employees of Shinra,
he didn't enjoy getting drunk.
"Hey Tseng?" Elena
whispered over.
"Yeah?"
"*Have* you heard anything
about that ancient?"
"She has a name." Tseng
did not like it when people refered to her
as just "that Ancient." He had
once been close to that girl, in some ways
he still was.
"Oh right, Aeris. So have
you?"
"Nothing new, nothing
old." It had been the same story for weeks.
It's not like the whole task was that
difficult! They had to recruit Aeris
into Shinra, an order that came down
from above, President Shinra himself.
Tseng shuddered slightly, not at the
mention of the president, but at the
thought of what they might do to Aeris.
No, of what Hojo might do to
Aeris. He knew that Hojo had something
to do with
Vincent's...disappearance, and he hated
to think of what might happen if
Hojo got his sick little hands on *her*.
"Hey, Tseng? You alright?" Came Elena's voice,
cutting into his
thoughts.
"Huh? Sorry, just
thinking."
"About what?"
"Private things." He
said, in a tone that screamed "drop it." She
got the picture.
"Oh."
"Why did we come here
again?" He asked.
"You know why sir."
Elena said, subtly pointing at Rude, who's gaze
had gone from the drunken Reno back to
the waitress, who was still
chatting with that blonde guy. That guy.
There was something familiar
about that guy. Something Tseng had seen
before. He looked him over
carefully, making sure he didn't see
him. Then it struck him. His eye!
There was only one type of person whos
eyes where like that, he had Mako
eyes, the eyes of a member of SOLDIER.
This guy didn't dress like it
though. He dressed in a black/blue armor
type suit, with one shoulder pad,
not SOLDIER style. And the sword, while
at least as big as the type
members used, was not the style. He'd
seen the kind he had before, it was
called a Buster Sword, not incredibly
powerful, but good enough for Midgar
citizens trying to protect themselves.
"Hey Elena? You see that guy?
What about him looks familiar?"
"Well....I had a cousin who
liked that hairstyle once." She said.
Tseng sighed again, and thought 'I'm
surrounded by incompetents.'
"Look again." She looked
closer this time.
"Oh....He's got the
eyes!" She whispered, gasping right after.
"Good, So that means he's
obviously from....?"
"SOLDIER."
"Very good. Wander what he's
doing out here in Sector Seven? All of
the SOLDIER barracks are in Sector
One." Tseng asked.
"I don't know sir. Want me to
ask?"
"No I don't. Just watch him a
bit."
"Right."
Tseng turned back to where Reno
was lying against the back of his
chair. Singing softly to himself. Rude
continued to stare subtly at the
waitress. Tseng got up then and went to
the pinball machine against the
wall. Might as well, not much else to
do.
"Wait a minute!" The
waitress suddenly said.
"What's the matter?"
"That pinball machine is
broken."
"There isn't any sign
up." Tseng countered.
"I've been meaning to get
one, but it really is broken." She said.
Tseng finally sat down. As he did so he
heard the waitress and her friend
say something unusual.
"Well, you saved us
there." He said quietly.
"You expected anything
less?" Odd choice of words there, he wondered
what they meant by "saved?"
Aah! It's not like everybody doesn't have a
few secrets here in Midgar it wasn't
like this was secretly AVALANCHE's
base or anything. He sat back down
again. He was worried about AVALANCHE
though. They had been striking at
various mako reactors all over town
lately, not shutting them down, but
slowing them down. Soon they were
going to try something big, Tseng could
feel it in his bones.
"Look pal! I tol' you to stop
talking about 'bout my mom!" Reno
bolted up again, this time directing his
rage at a red-headed man across
the bar, with the words
"Johnny" emblazoned on his jacket.
"Reno! That's enough!"
Tseng yelled, forcing Reno into his seat
again. It was almost time to leave,
Tseng could tell they better get Reno
out of here, before it got any worse. He
slumped over his chair toward
Rude suddenly.
"You know Rude, I don't get
why you don't just talk to
that....girl...up there." He
pointed wobbily at the bar.
"Reno...." Rude said,
softly but dangerously.
"I mean, it's not like a girl
like that doesn't sleep with a man
every night of the week." Reno
continued. Rude looked over and saw that
she and her friend had heard, the man
was starting to look angry.
"She's bound to get with a
guy like you." He said. Rude now looked
both angry and embarrassed slightly.
Tseng could see his fist tightening
as it laid on the table.
"Watch, I'll show you."
Reno clumsily got up, and Elena stepped up
to try to stop him.
"Reno, I think you should
just sit down."
"Out of my way. I just gotta
show Rude something." Reno pushed her
out of the way, and walked toward the
bar. He leaned up lazily against it.
"Hey baby." He said to
the woman. "What say you and I blow this
joint and head upstairs?" Tseng
could see the man from SOLDIER was this
close to drawing that blade of his, and
at that range, Reno was in no
position to fight him off. All of a
sudden, The waitress put her hand in
front of the SOLDIER guy, and he calmed
down, as Reno continued his
propsal.
"Look, I got plenty of cash
here." He took out his billfold and
revealed some gil. The waitress was
smiling, but it was a devious smile.
"So I figure you and me can
go get down tonight. If you know what I
mean." Reno smiled then, and it was
probably his death knell. The waitress
did not lean over, or even move for that
matter. After a minute of Reno's
smiling she suddenly kicked his stool
out from under him. He landed
chin-first on the bar, and she suddenly
put her hands down on top of his
head, pressing it into the wood. Her
friend with the mako eyes was
chuckling slightly. She leaned down and
spoke.
"Listen pal. I don't know
where you go usually. I wear this because
it gets people in here, no other reason!
I got to make a living somehow
you know?" Reno nodded slightly.
"A girl can't live off bread and water.
But despite what your friend over there
thinks, I am not a slut! I am not
for sale!" With that her fist came down on Reno's head,
knocking him cold.
He fell to the floor then, completely
out of it. Tseng put down his drink
and got up.
"Come on, its time to
go." Rude and Elena both got up, and went to
help drag Reno out. As they did, Tseng
spoke to Rude.
"You know Rude, I'm starting
to see what you like about that girl."
Tseng turned around and looked at the
bar once more.
"Seventh Heaven." He
shook his head, and they walked off.
THE END.
[ Back to Tank No.8 ]
