roulette
disclaimer: ffvii isn't mine.
I.
He sees himself in her only occasionally. Through the shattered mirror that is left forgotten on the ground; Elena stands like a shadow, interpreted in many ways: friend, lover, enemy, child, teenager, or adult.
It's not in the way she holds herself, awkward grin always placed like a slapdash stroke on a painting; or the way she interacts with Reno and Rude, pushing them when annoyed.
It's her anger that's formed from her flesh and bone, and there's an irrepressible fear that it might be too far and too late before the damage is done.
II.
This is not the moment in time when Elena falls head over heels in love with him.
The sun is shining, the clouds have vanished and all that can be heard is the breeze running through her hair and the splashes of waves lapping against the boat. She can taste the salt on her lips, and she grins.
Reno's snoozing, Tseng's driving and Rude is navigating… leaving their boss to join her and admire the sea.
And he's returning her smile; ever so relaxed and his eyes glittering in blue. There's a gentleness that she would have never noticed in any other occasion.
This time she keeps her mouth shut, leans back and basks in the freedom of the sea, laughs a little because here she can be herself.
It's just a moment in time.
Lost forever but kept in her memory.
Nothing really happens.
But it changes her perception of him.
III.
When Elena runs out of insults, the last thing she'll call them with her vulgar mouth is 'splodge'.
Rufus does no such thing.
He merely glares at them, unflinching as they find the door and escape, presumably running far, far away.
Works every time.
IV.
Neither of them can dance. Elena will bop her head and sway from side to side. And Rufus will merely tap his foot. One beat at a time. If nothing else, he has precision.
V.
There is only one solution to stop Reno harassing them per day, and it isn't apples: it's pistol-firing.
The difference between them is that Elena will pull the trigger and then spin her gun around.
Rufus will merely fire without warning. And through a newspaper.
But the latter is only for special occasions when Reno is being an extreme peeve.
VI.
He's there when she makes his first kill.
She killed to protect him. She killed to save him.
But she's still shaking and paling like an angel covered in a splatter of blood.
"Thank you."
Yet Elena doesn't appear to have heard him, fixated on the corpse that is staining the carpet with an unsightly colour.
"It doesn't get easier… does it?"
"No." He's killed before, and it grants him no pleasure. The nightmares are long gone now, and his heart is harder now, but that's still no reason to lie to her. Not this time. "It doesn't."
"But…"
"Elena." He says softly, and she jerks, still shaking; he wonders if he can hear the beat of her heart in the silence that ensues. But all he can hear is his own, slow and steady as he repeats words that he himself had longed to hear when he was much more innocent and carefree. "You did well."
And that will have to do.