Seek and Destroy
Prologue/Chapter One: To Whom it May Concern
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the compilation of Final Fantasy 7. I own the OCs/plot of this story though.
Note: This story includes an OC. Be warned. Pairings are numerous. Cloud/Tifa, Zack/Aerith, Cloud/Aerith, etc. OC/Reno most likely.
Rufus Shinra leaned forward on his desk, hands tied beneath his chin, eyes closed.
Thinking.
They had come so far - him, ShinRA, the Turks in their quest of rebuilding Gaia and in what some believed, in their quest of redemption. But his resources were running out and the distance they had covered was albeit disappearing behind them. His Turks were worked to the bone and beyond exhausted. They were making slip-ups they had never made in the past.
And new problems were arising that Rufus could not afford to ignore. Serious problems that made the young president reflect back on Gaia's painful past.
It was crystal clear that although the ShinRA Company was a force to be reckoned with, the iron fist of political power that they had once possessed was crumbling, rusting and turning to dust as time progressed. The time of calamity may have been over, with Sephiroth gone, the silver haired men dead and the Tsviets decimated, but the world was still in turmoil and Rufus felt that more discord would soon be washing upon the world's recovering shores.
There was no way to deny this. Especially with recent reports he had been receiving. Strange reports and unsettling events were constantly filling up the usually calm and sophisticated business man's schedule, trials that he had not willing chosen to participate in.
Gang rebellions and fights were becoming an almost everyday occurrence. Assassination attempts by these gangs were beginning to sprout up more than usual, especially following the months since the Tsviets were silenced.
Poverty was rocking the towns. It was not as bad as it had once been, but it was still there, like an eternal shadow that would not stop hunting its prey. Economic regrowth was slow.
People were not happy. Blame was still focused on ShinRA.
And not to mention remnants of Hojo's experiments, experiments Rufus had once thought him and his Turks had obliterated, were digging themselves out of their graves of secrecy. They ranged from lackluster failures to severe and horrible entities that could cause damage beyond repair.
It was unnerving and irritating all at the same time for the man clad in white.
Rufus opened his icy blue eyes and looked down at his desk, where a letter he had written a few hours earlier was now resting, as if waiting for him to decide its fate. Like a life or death sentence.
The blonde haired president slid his hands out from their resting position. His fingertips met the edges of the letter. He picked at them a bit, folding them, and then unfolding them.
Rufus was never this indecisive. He knew what he was doing. Always did. But for some reason, he was questioning this decision – this letter – that lay before him. He was not afraid (when was Rufus ever afraid?) of the consequences or the changes it might instill, but there was something there, something inside him that made his eyes narrow in frustration of whether this was the right thing to do, the smart thing to do, or if it was just a waste of time in even pursuing.
However before he could contemplate more, he moved his hands away from the letter, and tapped the button of his desk's phone.
"I have a letter I need you to send out Tseng."
"I don't understand this lesson Miss Elkeo," a dusty brown haired boy by the name of Devin announced while his small hand waved wildly in the air.
A young blonde haired woman, with a very lightly freckled face and green eyes, eyes that were both emerald colored yet cat-like in essence, looked up from her desk at the front of the room.
She smiled softly and rose from her seat, putting down her red pen that had been grading papers. She rounded her desk to crouch in front of Devin's own smaller work space.
"What don't you understand?" she asked. Her voice was firm, but a tenderness and patience only a teacher of great dedication could achieve lay laced inside of it.
The boy blushed, but pointed wordlessly to the worksheet in front of him. The paper had a few carefully selected math problems printed on it, and the pale haired woman began to read his specified problem out loud and slowly for her student.
"'There are two Chocobos sitting in a field. One Chocobo has four tuft feathers on his head while the other has three. Another Chocobo decides to join them. This one has two tail feathers. How many feathers are in all?'"
Miss Elkeo looked to her student after she finished. He gave her a quizzical blink of his brown eyes.
"Devin, how many tuft feathers do the first two Chocobos have all together?" she then questioned, her light pink lips still etched in a patient smile the whole time.
The young child blinked again. Looked at his math problem, and then brought his fingers out to count. Miss Elkeo felt her heart sway at such an innocent action.
"Seven," he declared. He glanced back up at his teacher with a bit of boyish pride and confidence.
"And how many tail feathers does the last Chocobo have?"
"Two," he replied. His response was much quicker than the first.
"So how many feathers all together?" Miss Elkeo then inquired. She watched the boy with a steady gaze as he calculated this through his head. She then said, "All feathers...not just tuft and tail. All."
"Oh!" he grinned brightly at her clue, as if it had given him all the knowledge in the world. "How is someone supposed to know that, Chocobos have so many!"
The blonde teacher laughed out loud at this, but not in a malicious way. Her laughter was sweet, amused and impressed all at once. "Always over thinking Devin, but very creative, also, as always."
She then held out her hands in front of the young boy, who still looked slightly flabbergasted. She put seven fingers up.
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
He counted slowly, "Seven."
"And that is...?"
"How many tuft feathers the Chocobos have."
She held two more fingers up, "These fingers represent how many tail feathers. So how many am I holding up now?"
"Nine," Devin avowed. His teacher looked at him expectantly.
"Oh," he said. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhh."
"See? Not all that hard," she mused, standing back up to her full height. "But I am happy you were thinking outside the box Devin."
The bells of the nearby clock tower rang after her words and seemed to echo her. She glimpsed out the nearby window, which was always wide open so that warm Gongaga air could filter into the school house. She then returned her attention to her students.
"Well looks like we are done for today, see you all tomorrow. Be careful on your way home."
The students scrambled out of their seats in a hurry, stuffing their shoulder bags with homework and school supplies, Devin included. Happy to be done with their lessons, they shouted goodbyes to their instructor in a garbled mess as they flung themselves out into the evening sun. The young teacher stood by her classroom's door, waving them all out before she too headed back towards her desk to pack up her belongings and lug herself home.
She took her time, stuffing her satchel with various student papers that needed to be graded and other knick knacks, such as her red grading pen, that belonged to her before she tied the draw string shut and threw it over her shoulder. On her way out the door, she glanced once more at the empty room, and shut the light off before locking the one room schoolhouse.
The schoolhouse of Gongaga, the village where Miss Elkeo taught, was located in the far ends of the town. It was a bit of a walk towards the rest of the civilization, but the young woman never had minded, especially since the town had managed to rebuild itself in the past few years and the voyage that was her daily commute allowed her to admire the escalation and improvement of the small community.
She had seen her hometown through the best of times and the worst, and she hoped that, with these years to come, Gongaga Village would return to its once peaceful and what some Gaia citizens would say, "Backwater" glory. But she also hoped that the town would become a settlement that would house happiness for future generations.
Miss Elkeo walked listlessly along the dirt paths that wound themselves around the hills of Gongaga, passing by a few violet and green colored homes before she reached the entrance of the town square, which was a new addition to the village in the past few months. Small businesses that were attempting to fight the poverty had popped up, almost like dandelions in a field, and dotted the small square with the bit of liveliness that Gongaga Village needed.
A few villagers greeted her warmly as she strolled past their business stalls, and she nodded her head courteously back. She was well known in Gongaga, especially since she had grown up there as a child and was now the only school teacher that resided in the tiny metropolis. It had earned her great respect by taking such a role in the hamlet.
The school and town square were directly in the path of her home that lay on the opposite side of town. Gongaga was a relatively straight shot of a walk, even if it was long, and before she knew it she caught herself rooting her feet to the spot, and staring blankly at a cottage that lay adjacent to her own small home.
She stood by its mailbox, where the name "Fair" was etched hap hazardously on it. She gazed at the windows of the adobe for a few moments, watching the light of a fire she presumed, dance off the window glass. The light illuminated the home, giving it a warm and friendly glow to it. As her emerald eyes took this all in, a shadow appeared in front of the window, and the front door of the home was soon opened.
A familiar old woman smiled sadly out at her. Miss Elkeo met her gaze for a few brief seconds before she bowed quickly and snapped on her heel, a sudden urgency to return home gripping her insides. She did not permit the weathered woman to speak with her. She tended to avoid conversation with her at all costs.
It took her seconds to reach her own cottage before she promptly opened the door with one fluid key in the hole movement. She slammed the door with a swift back kick.
She felt disgusted with herself as she dropped her shoulder bag to the floor, but it could not be helped. She could not control herself when looking at that cottage.
She exhaled loudly, her lungs shuddering with some unknown emotion before she took a step into her home. However she paused soon after, hearing a slight ripping sound beneath her feet.
She looked down, only to see a crisp white letter beneath her brown boots.
"Eh? What's this?"
She bent down to pick it up, noticing how the edges of the letter looked worn and torn, like someone had been fiddling with it furiously. She flipped it over to the other side, curiously blinking as her name "COSETTE ELKEO" appeared before her, stenciled across the white in a stark and heavily contrasting black ink.
"At least someone spelled my name right for once..." she muttered to herself.
Without hesitation she opened the letter in one rip and began to read the contents.
She almost screamed as she dropped the letter to the floor. The letter landed upwards. It was as if it was watching her, waiting for the fall.
Dear Miss Cosette Elkeo –
This letter is a request to you directly from myself and no one else. I have an offer you will not want to refuse. Please travel to Edge where the ShinRA Headquarters is now located so that we may speak directly. Everything will be explained upon your arrival. This is an urgent matter.
Make haste in your travels.
Rufus Shinra