Snow fell on the thin blonde strands of hair trailing out from under Eliza's hat as she knocked the same powdery substance off of her boots. She unlocked the huge heavy oak doors keeping her from warmth and pushed them open irritably, her footsteps echoing in the huge hall of the grand and empty mansion. Eliza Shinra quickly shed her coat and mittens, all of her winter gear thrown carelessly to the floor for one of the many staff members to clean up later. She had spent most of her life being coddled by the overpaid staff members and she had no desire for that to change as she wandered through the halls of the grand mansion. Her father had rarely set foot in the cavernous place while she was growing up and Rufus was always busy with the power company and even when he did have time to waste he usually spent it in the company of his Turks instead of his step-sister. By all accounts Eliza should've been angry at both of them for leaving her alone all the time, she had every right to be mad at them for that, but she wasn't. She hardly talked to either of them and so long as they didn't cut her funds she was perfectly fine being left to find her own entertainment. As a child she had tried to make her father angry by spending more than he had given her, but her cry for attention had backfired as it had simply ended up with her getting more money put in her bank account each month. The extra money was like a pat on the head for being spoiled and since she saw that she was rewarded for buying whatever caught her fancy she created a very bad habit for impulse shopping, buying things she had no use for or no care to use. Lately nothing of any true value had been catching her eye, hence her irritation upon opening the door. She was craving something to take her mind off the loneliness that pressed in on her with every echoing step she took in the lavish mansion and everything she had bored her immensely, most of the items things that were supposed to be enjoyed by more than one person. It didn't matter how many billiard balls she could sink in a single shot or how many flips she could fit into a dive, if no one was around to watch her it didn't matter. Eliza didn't consciously realize this of course, her main concern being the fact that she was ridiculously bored and sick of shopping. She had spent the past few years of her life shopping alone or with one of the simpering 'friends' Rufus occasionally paid for to keep her company and she had nearly everything a woman could ever want to spend money on, hence her problem finding entertainment. The only thing that had been able to grab her attention that day was a book, a small leather-bound tome with the words Loveless stamped in gold leaf on the edge.
Eliza Shinra was not an idiot, no matter how much the papers wanted to depict her as just another rich blonde bimbo incapable of comprehending anything worth knowing. The Shinra mansion had quite the impressive library and Eliza had spent countless hours sitting and reading inside it, sometimes not emerging for days because the housekeepers would bring her food and drink at the ring of a bell and a bathroom was attached to the enormous room. She was sure there was a copy of Loveless somewhere in the library, but since she didn't feel like searching through the despairingly long rows of thick, unorganized books she had bought another copy, knowing that no one would ever notice or care about the presence of a second Loveless.
Eliza gave a rare smile as she walked into the library, noting with genuine happiness that one of the many housekeepers had lit a fire in the grate before going to bed. It was custom for the staff who resided in the home to retire by a certain hour and Eliza had arrived home long after they were to have gone to bed. She curled up in the chair nearest the fireplace, her body greedily soaking up the warm glow that chased the frigid Midgar winter from her pallid skin. She opened her book and began reading, her bright green eyes hardly concentrating on the words floating before them.
Eliza always thought of her brother when she read for some reason, his smug face popping up in her mind's eye whenever she cracked open a book. She hated Rufus, but only because she envied him. He was heir to the most powerful company in the world and he was just as pompous and condescending as Eliza remembered her father to be on the few occasions where he had actually talked to her. Eliza couldn't understand why their father had always loved Rufus more, her step-brother always seeming to get more even when they were supposed to have an equal share.
Eliza's brooding thoughts were cut short as a scream echoed its way up to the library, the terror-filled sound sending chills up her spine. Eliza quickly jumped to her feet, the book dropping to the ground as she bounded towards the door. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do about the screaming, but she did know that she wanted it to stop. Her sock-clad feet slid on the marble floor as she tried to follow the echoing sounds of terror to their source. Eliza nearly screamed herself as one of the many maids that inhabited the building came into view, her face bloody and her arm a mangled mess. The maid pressed a finger to her lips and pointed towards her room, the wordless instruction to hide herself cut short as she fell to the ground, the massive blood loss sapping the rest of her strength.
Eliza stepped over the dying maid, her socks soaking up trace amounts of the blood pooling on the ornate floor. She rushed to her room, obedient as she climbed into one of the many closets and hid herself as instructed. She shut and locked the door behind her, her hands searching the walls of the dark, crowded space frantically. Eliza knew there was a security alarm in her closet somewhere, but just where it was she couldn't decide. She silently cursed the large piles of clothes that tripped her up and blocked the path her hands traced, the sounds of breaking glass in the room outside deafening as they fed her fear. Eliza felt a few fear tinted tears roll down her cheeks as she scraped her nails across clothing covered walls, searching desperately for the small control panel that would save her. She heard the doorknob to the closet begin to rattle as she closed her finely manicured nails over the cover of the panel, her fingers trembling as she pried the device open and stabbed at the numbers, the blinking red light that lit up under her hand blinding her momentarily as a shrill siren cut through her eardrums. She heard swearing from just outside the closet door, her spirits lifting as she waited for the siren to alert her dick of a brother and force him to send someone to take care of the problematic people trying to kill her.
A foot slammed into the closet door and she shrank back, worried that the siren hadn't served its purpose in frightening away the vicious person only inches away from grabbing her by the hair and dragging her away or worse. A gruff voice yelled over the siren, the words sending chills down her spine. "I'll be back for ya sweetheart!" Eliza wrapped her arms around her knees and curled in on herself in fear as the heavy footsteps thundered out of the room, her body trembling as she waited for a familiar voice to call out her name in worry.
Reno swore and tried not to rip the nightmarish mission assignment in his clenched hand. Only a true asshole would assign someone the tedious, soul sucking, garishly horrible task of looking after Rufus Shinra's spoiled, snobbish, over dressed nun of a sister. He let his head fall onto the desk, the original thought behind the motion being that if he hit himself hard enough then maybe, just maybe, he would wake up and realize that he had simply had a horrible nightmare. After the first whack he looked at the mission assignment again, Eliza Shinra's face still turning its most likely fake nose up at him from the paper-clipped photograph settled inside the folder. A few sharp cracks to his skull later he stopped looking at the picture and simply continued to pound a dent into his desk, the thudding sound granting him concerned looks from Rude and Elena. Reno felt that maybe, just maybe, if he hit his head hard enough he would knock what was left of his brains out and someone else would be sent to coddle the pampered princess while he tried to shove the substance back into his head.
Elena stood up and slid a box of tissues under his head once the repeated whacks began drawing stares from co-workers who were traversing the halls where the sound echoed. Reno stopped trying to meld his face into the desk when he realized that there was a somewhat soft substance between him and the wood and he threw Elena a glare. "Laney, if ya wanted ta help that would be a box of nails not a box of nose-wipes."
Elena frowned and grabbed the mission assignment from Reno's hand as he shoved the box to the floor. "I figured you would need it once whatever's left of your brain started leaking out your ears. You know what Tseng said about a clean workplace."
Reno rolled his eyes and rubbed his smarting face gingerly. "I've got a few choice words for Tseng when I see him next. What the hell did I do to deserve babysitting duty?"
Rude snorted and hid his face behind his own mission folder as Reno shot a glare at him, silently daring him to laugh again as he watched the bald man's back shake with repressed sniggers. Elena took her turn at an eye roll as she threw the assignment back on his desk, answering his question as if he had been serious. "Remember the caterpillars Reno? Or the snake eggs? How about the superglue? Remember that?"
Reno smiled and leaned back in his desk, his feet landing on the folder he wanted to do horrible things to. "Ah the superglue. You remember the superglue doncha Rude?"
Rude gave a noncommittal grunt as he looked at Elena, her frown enough to keep him from giving a solid answer. Elena flicked her hair back and set her hands on her hips, for a moment resembling the pampered brat Reno was supposed to start guarding that day. "Just do the assignment and stop whining. Maybe you'll get your helicopter privileges back if you keep her from getting killed."
Reno's eyes glimmered at that thought, his helicopter privileges had been revoked shortly after the dreaded superglue incident. He sat up and opened the folder again, shuddering when the beautiful, pampered blonde practically sneered up at him again. He looked up and had a momentary battle in his mind as he tried to decide which beautiful sneering blonde he would prefer to spend time with, Elena or Eliza. It was truly a tough choice, but since Elena could rat him out to Tseng for procrastinating his duties he sided with the over-dressed snob. Reno closed the folder and stood with a dejected sigh, his footsteps heavy as he trudged to the President's office to pick up his charge for the next few weeks. "See ya when I get kicked off the case Rude. Save me a beer or two would ya?" Rude gave a nod and Reno smirked as he shut the door behind him to begin the aggravatingly long walk up to President Shinra's office, his elevator privileges having been revoked after the caterpillar incident.