Affirmation
Chapter One: Family is Worth More Than Money or Gold
A Final Fantasy Seven Fan Fic
By
Lady Aoi
Summary: Taking place forty-one years pre-game, this is the story of Shinra's space program and the impossible love of two men.
Pairings: Palmer/Heidegger (young)
Rating: R for violence, language, limeish yaoi
Disclaimer: I don't own Palmer and Heidegger, at any age. Square Soft has that blessing. And the doujinshi pic that inspired this fic can be found at: http://www.bishink.org/bishink/reeve/photo.jpg The title of this fic and the chapter titles come from the Savage Garden song of the same name. Buy their CD, don't steal it from your roomie like I did. ^_~
Lady Aoi's Notes: Once again, blame Xel "she who would only slash a younger Heidegger and Palmer" –chan.
~*~
Heidegger slowly shook the haze of sleep from his eyes as the chocobo wagon rumbled to a stop. He'd been dreaming again. He knew it. And not because he remembered any particular soft-edged image. No. Klaus Heidegger scarcely ever recalled the contents of his dreams. Nevertheless, he always remembered the act of dreaming; the unreal, tremulous feeling that somehow melted all cares into mist and made all things seem possible. Heidegger closed his eye again and buried his face back into his arms. The feeling haunted the young, swarthy man like the silence of the desert surrounding Coral Prison; both were enigmatic, unfathomable and had been with him since birth.
Rusty ill-oiled hinges squealed in protest as the wagon's back door opened and the droning of flies filled the air. Heidegger grunted and rolled away from the threatening shaft of light. Couldn't the bastards just let him sleep? His right eye was still throbbing from the stitches, and he doubted he could have opened it even if he'd wanted to. In fact, if what the doctors said was true, he was lucky the assailant's blade had only scratched his cornea. And if he was even luckier, he would someday regain some of his vision. If he was the luckiest man on the planet, he'd regain it all.
"Well, well. Here's a familiar face." And a familiar voice. Heidegger ignored the warden.
Diocletian's foot tapped an impatient tarantella against the wagon's floor, thus wafting the smell of dirt and sweat to Heidegger's nostrils. "Knock it off, Klaus. I read the report. That gangster didn't cut up both your eyes, and he didn't cut up your ear drums, either. And last I heard, you weren't paralyzed, so sit up and look at me."
Heidegger sighed. When would he learn you just couldn't fake anything around Warden Leo Diocletian III? Slowly, he cracked his good eye open and eased himself onto his haunches.
In response, the old man smirked and flicked a hot piece of ash from the end of his cigarette. "Well now. That's a lot better." Heidegger would have loved to attack him for that comment alone, to say nothing of the superior little smirk that flickered across the warden's wrinkly old face. "I wish I could say welcome back, Klaus. But sadly, we'd all hoped we'd never see you here again." The warden's smirk turned into a look of pity, and Heidegger felt his stomach turn. Liberal bullshit like this really got to him.
"Oh, spare me," Heidegger snorted as he clambered to his feet. He could only advance so far, however, before the length of his ankle chain snapped taut against the floor. "And don't pretend for a moment that you have any pity for me, Diocletian," he growled into the man's face. "The only reason you give a blonde rat's ass hair whether or not I come or go is 'cause you think it makes you a better person. So you can take your concern and shove it right up your scrawny little ass."
"How wrong you are, Klaus Heidegger," For his part, Diocletian looked truly pained as he shook his head and exited the wagon. "Gentlemen, please escort Mr. Heidegger to the Box for a few hours," he said as he stepped into the blinding desert sunlight. "Perhaps the temperature will teach his own hot head a thing or two about cooling down."
Ah yes, Heidegger decided as the two Shinra guards entered the wagon, Coral Prison hadn't changed a bit.
~*~
Like its name, the Box was a surprisingly uncreative form of punishment. It consisted of a four iron walls with a door and two tiny barred windows for ventilation. When you picked fights, hoarded food, lead a revolt against the guards or otherwise pissed Diocletian off, you were thrown in here for however many hours or days of scorching heat he felt you should endure. Needless to say, Klaus Heidegger was a regular tenant. In fact, the frequency of his visits had led him to keep the place stocked with a generous supply of water and that necessity of necessities, cigarettes. Of course, the other prisoners were allowed access to them whenever they were unfortunate guests of the metal cage, provided they replaced the things within two days of being liberated. And with one glaring exception, every prisoner had obeyed this unspoken edict. The glaring exception, on the other hand, was still recovering in the Coral Prison infirmary. If there was one thing Heidegger hated, it was people who took advantage.
That and just about everything else involving prison life.
Klaus blew a discontented cloud of smoke from his nostrils and took another gulp of water. Yeah. Like life outside the prison was any better. They finally released you on parole, or after your sentence was up or… whatever, and where did you go? Sure, they gave you a nice suit and one hundred Gil, but that barely even covered a train ticket and one night's board at an inn. And then you had to find a job with nothing on your resume but the three things you learned in prison; how to fight, lie and steal. So, was it any wonder most people came back here sooner or later by doing just that? And even if there was a better way of handling things on the outside, Heidegger sure as hell hadn't found it. No one had even bothered to help him look.
Hell with it, Heidegger decided as the Box's lock turned. At least no one in Coral's ever tried to cut up my face for a piece of bread! He flicked the last of his cigarette's ash onto the Box's floor and walked out of the narrow door into the bright afternoon sun.
If that's what life outside of here's really like, then count me the hell out. 'Least people here got some respect for each other.
Or at least most people here knew better than to fuck with a guy like Klaus Heidegger if they wanted to stay healthy and alive.
~*~
"Hey, Klaus! Hey, Klaus, over here!"
Heidegger winced as he turned to the voice. Ouch. Yeah, they were right when they said being only able to use one eye fucked with your depth perception. This would take some getting used to until it healed. If ever. "Gyahaha! Hey there, Eddie. How's it going?"
The little boy grinned at being addressed and quickly scurried down from his perch atop a large wood pile. "It's going great!" he chirped as he landed next to Heidegger. "But I really missed you, Klaus! I thought you were gone for good this time." The boy frowned and stood on his tiptoes to peer into Heidegger's face. "Hey! What happened to your eye?!"
"Gyahaha! That's a long story, pal." And it was. How did you tell a little kid some junkie in Midgar had attacked you for your last piece of bread? And that he'd been so out of it he'd slashed at your face while raving about how he was gonna kill god or something? Well, you just didn't. Instead, when the kid looked at you sternly for holding out, you just laughed again and told him you'd gotten into a fight. Because he'd sure as hell had seen plenty of those.
"Okay," Eddie frowned and poked his bare toe into a patch of dirt, trying to fully accept this vague explanation. "I mean, it sure looks like it hurt!"
"Yeah, Eddie it did. But I'm glad to be home." In a way it was true. Either way, it was a brilliant change of subject.
"Ohh, me too! Me too! Um…" Eddie looked down and watched his wriggling toe. "Not that I didn't wish that you hadn't made it out there… you know?"
Heidegger patted the boy's head reassuringly. Of course Eddie didn't want Heidegger to stay in prison, no matter how much he loved him. Hell, everyone wanted to get out of Coral Prison, most of all an eight-year-old boy who never belonged here in the first place. But be that as it was, most of Coral's inmates also didn't want to lose a man like Klaus Heidegger. Who would protect them if he left?
"Aw, hell, kid, I know what you mean," Eddie beamed as Heidegger knelt down next to him and smiled. "Gyahaha! You feel like a piggy back now?"
"Yeah!" Eddie cried as he threw his arms around Heidegger's burly neck. The bearded man smiled and slipped his large hands beneath the boy's slender calves before hefting himself back to his feet.
"'Cmon, kid. Let's go see how everyone's been doin' since I left."
"Yay!"
"Hey, is that Klaus Heidegger?" An old, bow-legged man asked as he hobbled out from around the wood pile. "Well, well, well," he grinned around the straw stuck jauntily in the corner of his mouth. "Ain't you a sight for sore eyes. What you in for this time, eh?"
"Gyahahaha! You don't even wanna know, Duke. And if you do, I'll tell you later." Sometimes it was nice to have an older guy for a friend. He had more perspective on things… well, when he wasn't drunk of his ass, that was.
Duke, for his part, seemed to get the message. "Oh…kay," he said as he spat the stalk from his mouth. "Anyway, y'all'd better mozy on back to your house, Klaus. I hear Natashya's been havin' one helluva time since you done left." Duke looked around nervously, and then beckoned Heidegger closer. "It's those damned Madison brothers again, ya see. Acting too big for their britches now they thought Klaus Heidegger'd left the roost."
Well, wasn't that nice? "Thanks for letting me know. They won't feel so big for very long." And with that, Heidegger patted Eddie's knee. "Come on, kid. Let's go visit Mom. Maybe she'll give you a cookie."
"Really?"
"Yep. If she's got one and you remember to thank her this time."
"'Kay, Klaus." As the pair made their way across the scorching desert sands to Natashya Heidegger's shack, Duke hobbled off to spread the news. Half of Coral Prison's royalty had returned!
~*~
Like her formidable twenty-year-old son, Natashya Heidegger was not someone to be trifled with. Standing a good three inches over her child and weighing slightly more, Natashya could have easily torn most of Coral Prison's strongest men limb from limb in minutes had she so desired. Unless challenged, however, Natashya preferred to rule her kingdom with a gloved fist of iron. After all, couldn't you catch more flies with honey than vinegar?
One of Natashya's tricks was baking cookies. Keep the prisoners' children well fed and happy and they'd be that much less inclined to question your authority. And even if she hadn't eaten a crumb of sugar in the last seventeen years, her reign had gone nearly unchallenged. Now, if only she could do something about those damned Madisons…
"Gyahaha! You want another ginger snap, Eddie?"
The little boy grinned and shook his head. "No thanks, Mrs. Heidegger! I'm all full up."
"Eddie, whaddya say to Mrs. Heidegger now?" Her son asked as he leaned back in his chair at the table.
"Thank you, Mrs. Heidegger!"
Mother and child 'Gyahahaed' in unison. "Well, if you're all done here, why don't you run along home, okay?" Natashya soothed as she ran her heavy palm through the little boy's matted hair. "Me and Klaus have some important grown-up stuff to talk about now."
"'Kay. See you later, Klaus!"
"Gyahaha!" Heidegger chuckled as the little boy sprinted from Natashya's kitchen. "How about that, huh? That kid sure is somethin' else."
"He reminds me a bit of you at that age," Natashya agreed as she carried the boy's plate and glass to her rusty sink. "Speaking of you, Klaus, I wasn't bankin' on seeing you return this time."
"Yeah. Shit happens," Heidegger shrugged as he reached for a ginger snap.
Natashya turned with the speed of a cheetah and snatched the plate from her son's questing hand. "Gyahaha! Nice try, Roo, but you ain't nine and a half anymore. And these're for the kids, got it?"
"Aw, shit, Mom! Can't I have just one?"
"No, because you'll ruin your appetite. And don't say 'shit' in front of me, Roo. Twenty years old or not, I'm still yer old lady. And I'm the only one allowed to talk shit around this house."
Grumbling, Heidegger plopped himself down into a kitchen chair. "Sh—Shoot, Ma. The no swearin' I can handle. But ya gotta stop calling me that stupid baby name."
Natashya pecked her son's cheek as she returned to the sink. "Twenty or not, you're always my little Roo."
"If the guys heard that –"
"Shit, Klaus! The guys've known about this Roo thing ever since you were knee-high to a bite bug! You think they're any less scared you're gonna kick their ass?"
Heidegger admitted he had nothing to say to that, either way.
"No. So forget about it, already. 'Sides, if I was you, I'd be more worried about that eye of yours than whether or not I still call ya Roo."
"Gyahaha! What's to worry about?"
Natashya furrowed her brow as if her son were an annoyingly tenacious glob of grease that refused to be scrubbed from a pan. Heidegger winced at the caution in her voice. "Roo, you got a foot long knife wound down your face that looks like it's pertineer festering. Now, don't tell me there ain't nothing to worry about. You're gonna keep that thing cleaned out, got it?" It was not a question, and Natashya's house was not a democracy.
"Gyahahahahaha!" Heidegger rubbed his head nervously. "Alright, Ma. I'll make a point of seeing Doc in the morning."
"If you ain't to him by noon, I'm dragging you there myself. In the mean time, you'd better go rest up. Because we're havin' a little welcome-home shebang for you tonight. We being just about everyone but the Madisons, who I know ya didn't really miss."
"Ma, I don't really feel up to –"
"Hush. Of course you do." Natashya said as she returned to her sink. "We got a reputation to keep up around here, Klaus. And eye or no eye, we ain't gonna let anyone think the Heideggers've gone soft."
"'Course not, Ma," And that was that.
"Gyahaha! Glad we're agreed. Now, off to bed you go."
"Aw, heck, can't I at least have a ginger snap and some milk first?" Natashya's brow furrowed dangerously. "Uh… I mean, if yer gonna insist on callin' me Roo like I was nine-and-a-half, I might as well get something out of it, right?"
"Klaus Heidegger, you sneaky little hellion!" Natashya feigned annoyance as she wiped her soapy hands on her apron. "Gyahaha! You can have one snap, Roo, and no more. And that's only on account of you bein' a cripple."
"I ain't a cripple," Heidegger chuckled as he grabbed a cookie from the plate.
"Exactly," Natashya nodded sternly. "And for your sake and everyone else's, you'd better remember that, Roo."
"Ya don't haveta tell me twice," Heidegger called over his shoulder as he mounted the stairs to his room.
Natashya nodded sternly after him and returned to her dishes.
~*~
After tossing and turning for an hour, Heidegger came to a decision. It was too damn hot to sleep indoors. And so, the burly young man scaled the pole in his room and walked onto the house's roof and into an endless field of stars.
"Oh, yeah," Heidegger murmured as he lowered himself to his knees. "I missed this so bad..." and it was true. He'd never once seen a starry night in Midgar's slums. Maybe that's why everyone down there was psycho. Not seeing the sky made you feel a bit restless after awhile. And if you'd gone your whole life without seeing one, well…Heidegger pillowed his head on his arms and gazed up into the canopy above him. Tonight, the air smelled like sand, Hazelwood and honesty, and sounded like a lonely guitar being tuned. You could hear your heart beat in this cricket-chirruping calm, and for just one moment, you were almost able to forget where you were. You almost felt…
"Alive," Heidegger sighed. Truth be told, it wasn't a feeling you experienced very often in a place like Coral. No matter how well liked you were, no matter how strong, how respected, how powerful, your eyes still stared off into the shimmering distance with more fatigue and bitterness each year. And the quicksand that surrounded the desert could still swallow you alive, the same as it could anyone.
Even so, Klaus Heidegger was not just anyone. While most of the prison's "citizens" had been sent here for stupid reasons, his was the dumbest of all; being born to a woman who had been given a life sentence. And not having the sense to move one damn step beyond that.
"They say that every person gets to live many lives," Heidegger said to a passing star. "And that they have to make up for the shit they pulled in their previous life during the one they have now. You think that's true?" The young man shrugged and scratched his beard as the comet sailed ambivalently on. "I dunno if it is or not. But I'll tell you somethin': sometimes I sure wonder what the hell I did to deserve this. Ya know, sometimes I just wish…" He wished what, exactly? To be 'free'? To be paroled and let out without a Gil to his name or anywhere to go? To steal and lie his way to Midgar's slums and wander in and out of useless jobs until some crazy drunk slashed his face again? He wished he'd die tomorrow? He wished he'd never been born?
"Nothin'…" Heidegger said definitely. "Nothin' at all."
The stars continued to twinkle distantly as Heidegger closed his eyes.
~*~
"Morning, Roo. Eat yer breakfast and get down to the warden's office," Natashya said as Heidegger entered her kitchen the next morning. "Pew! But ya take a shower first, would ya. And kissing your old lady good morning after being away for three months might not be such a bad idea, either."
"Mhh, lettin' your little boy wake up first might not be a bad idea, you mean," Heidegger grumbled as he pecked his mother on the cheek. "What's cooking, Ma? And what's this about seeing Dio?" he questioned as he sat down at the table.
"Eggs, bacon strips, hash browns and oatmeal, same as always. You want some cream in your coffee? Just got some in yesterday."
"Nah, I'll take it black this morning. And Ma, you still ain't told me what Dio wants with me. If it's about yesterday, he can shove it. I did my time in the Box, and I ain't done nothin' yet today so –"
"Roo, what'd I tell ya about swearing?"
"What the – sayin' 'shove it' ain't swearing, Ma!"
"It's my kitchen, and if I say something's a swear word, then it damn well is," Natashya huffed as she scraped two sunny-side-up eggs onto her son's plate. "And as far as Dio goes, I don't have any more idea than you. He just came by this morning and said he'd like to see ya after you'd had your breakfast. Don't know why, don't know anything more. But I don't think he's mad atcha, Roo. In fact, he was downright nice to me."
"Aw, Ma, he knows better than to pis—to upset you," Heidegger corrected himself as Natashya handed him a mug of coffee. "It's me he's got no problem messing around with."
"Well, he didn't seem to be that way today. In fact, he seemed downright nervous."
"Nervous?"
"Yeah," Natashya sat down next to her son with her breakfast. "His face was paler than usual, and he had some dark bags under his eyes. Bet he didn't sleep three winks last night. And you know that ain't like him in the slightest. So, whatever's eating him, I doubt you're the cause. In fact, I bet you're the solution."
"Or the scapegoat," Heidegger muttered as he shoved a strip of bacon into his mouth. "Alright, Ma. Lemme just finish up here and I'll go see what he wants."
"Good boy," But Natashya's expression clouded. "And how many times do I haveta tell you? No talking when you're eating!"
"Owch! Ma!" Heidegger cried as Natashya whapped his left ear soundly.
~*~
One hour later, a fed and freshly showered Heidegger knocked firmly on Diocletian's dust-covered office door. Vaguely, he wondered why Diocletian even bothered having one, as the thing was forever being marked up and abused. Today, for example, someone had stolen the "d" "e" and "n" from the word WARDEN and substituted a "t" in their place. As the door slowly swung open, Heidegger suppressed one of his typical hearty "gyahaha"'s. Funny, but 'wart' wasn't the first four-letter word he would have associated with the warden.
"Hello, Klaus. Please, come in." Heidegger shivered at the sight of Diocletian's too-indulgent smile and did not sit until the warden motioned for him to do so.
"May I get you something? A drink, perhaps?"
Heidegger folded his arms. "Look. You hate me and I hate you, so you can cut the formal crap. Ma said you came by to see me this morning." He held his arms out to his sides, palms facing the warden. "Well, here I am. Now, you gonna tell me what's so important you gotta bother my mom before sun up, or what?"
Diocletian simply blinked at the prisoner and sighed as he replaced the scotch bottle on the bar with an unsatisfied clink. "Alright, Klaus. Since you don't want to mince words today, I'll get right to the point. I need your help."
"Gyahahahaha!" Heidegger laughed so hard his wound stung. "Hoo-boy, that's a good one, sir! You send your boys to pick me up for breakin' my parole when I did nothin' but get in a fight – and I fight I didn't even start. Then ya stick me in the Box during the hottest part of the day. Add that to the hundreds a times you've done nothin' but try and screw me and my Ma over and well… I'm sorry, but I don't think we owe ya jack shit. 'Scuse me, warden. I got a life to get back to now."
"Indeed, I suspected nothing more from you," Diocletian sighed. "Sit down, Klaus. Please? You wanted me to get to the point, and now I'm going to. Klaus, please do not make me restrain you in that chair. For your mother's sake?"
Heidegger paused in the doorway and closed his eyes. Damn that son-of-a-bitch! He knew just what buttons to push. "You got five minutes, sir," Heidegger informed the warden as he took his seat again.
"Thank you, Klaus. I called you here because I've been given an offer from Shinra, Inc. that I think you will find most interesting."
"Oh, yeah? And what kinda offer might that be?"
"Klaus, many of the men and women at Coral Prison have never had work to speak of… unless you count stealing, murdering and fighting as work."
Heidegger shrugged. "Heh. Don't knock it 'til you've been forced to try it, warden."
"That being the case," Diocletian continued. "The new President Shinra has offered to help them find some."
"The new President Shinra?"
"His father died last Tuesday," the Warden bowed his graying head for a respectful moment. "The new president is about your age, Klaus. And from all accounts, he seems to be far more charitable than his predecessor."
"So you've said. What kinda work did he offered us?"
"As you must have noticed, Midgar is currently in a state of horrifying disrepair." Diocletian shook his head as he eased himself onto the corner of his desk. "Its support systems are out dated, its water supply contaminated, its public works virtually non-existent."
"Your point still not made."
"Klaus, President Shinra has offered to give all able-minded and able-bodied prisoners of both sexes work in the Midgar Reconstruction Project. You will be given a decent salary, housing and – where are you going?"
"Your five minutes are up, warden," Heidegger snarled. "And my answer is not only no. It's also no, and you can rot in hell, ya sick bastard."
"Klaus, think about it! Many people here would be given a chance for honest work at honest pay! A chance to finally be self-determining individuals! Can you and your mother truly say you don't want that for your people?"
"I ain't got no idea what "self-determining" means, but I'd bet fifty Gil ya just made it up, like you do half your words," Heidegger scowled. "And as far as wantin' better lives for everyone goes, you know damn well there ain't nothing my mom and me want more. But you ain't talkin' about putting everyone in a decent paying job. This is nigh-on slave labor you're talkin' about, and I'm telling you right now that my Ma and me ain't gonna have no part of it."
"Klaus, this is not slave labor! President Shinra has promised to pay for his construction work, and I know he fully intends to keep that promise."
"Oh, yeah? So how much did he promise to pay us, exactly?"
"Well, I don't exactly have the final figures yet but –"
"I said how much?!"
Despite himself, Warden Diocletian jumped slightly. "F—five, six, maybe even seven gil a day," he stammered.
"Gyahahahahaahahah!! He said that?! Oh that's rich, Warden. Real rich. Like you made such a big stink about pointin' out, I been to Midgar. And I made a lot more than that an hour, and it still wasn't enough to live decently on."
"I did mention you would be fed and housed –"
"Sure, we'd be fed and housed – probably not too well, either – and when the constructions over, we leave with what? A thousand, two thousand Gil in our pockets? Who the hell can live a decent life on that for a month, huh? What the hell kinda offer did Shinra make you, anyway? What's in this for you?"
Diocletian sighed miserably. "He said he'd give me enough money to begin laying ground work for the Golden Saucer."
"The Golden Saucer? The hell's that supposed to be, a giant tea cup?!"
"It's an – a resort of sorts. Something my family and I have wanted to create for quite sometime."
"Uh-huh. And so you're gonna sell your prisoners so you can have your little amusement park. Well, congratulations, sir. I hated your slimy guts before this little talk, but now I have half a mind to nail your no-good body to the wall!"
"There's no need to be so hostile, Klaus," the warden said calmly.
But Heidegger was outraged. "And if you think me and my Ma are gonna go along with this sick little scheme of yours –"
"Oh, but I'm afraid you'll have no choice but to help me."
"Good bye, warden. I'd say good luck on getting your amusement park but, well… I'd rather just say fuck you. So fuck you, sir."
The warden shook his head. "Very well. If that's the way you truly feel, then you leave me no choice." Heidegger watched as the white-haired man snapped his fingers and a door at the opposite end of the office opened revealing an old man and a small boy. Both were bound and gagged and seemingly propped up by two burly men. In three seconds, Heidegger recognized them as two of the Madison brothers.
"What the hell? Duke? Eddie?! You dirty rotten – you tell those freaks to let 'em go right now or, so help me, I'm gonna tear them both apart and then you'll be next!"
"I'm afraid your time for making casual threats is up, Klaus. I've politely asked you to help me, and you have refused most impolitely. And so, taking a page from your book as it were, I have decided to use force. Now, if you leave the room without agreeing to help me, I'm going to ask Alexander and James here to kindly dispose of two liabilities. And if you take one more step towards me, I will simply have the boys shoot them now. Starting with the old man." Duke let out a strangled whimper as Alexander Madison pushed him to the ground and pressed a shotgun barrel to his temple.
"Dammit, this is a fight between you and me! Eddie and Duke got nothin' to do with it."
"They don't? Pardon me for disagreeing with you, Klaus, but President Shinra said he would only hire able bodied men and women for the Midgar Project. And when I asked him if children and the elderly could qualify, he simply laughed. Neither Eddie nor Duke – which is which again? – can therefore do not make any money nor bring any money in for me. As of now, they are simply consuming precious resources that could be better spent on more economically viable prisoners."
"If either of you hurts them, you're gonna have the Heideggers to deal with!" The young man bellowed, shaking his fists at the Madison brothers.
"You'll do nothing of the sort. And if you and your Mother refuse to cooperate, I give you my word that my guards will execute any prisoner President Shinra has deemed unfit for work. And all members of any rebellion you two may try and stir up. Now, how about it, Klaus?" The warden signaled James to put his shot gun to Eddie's head as well. "Are you going to work for me and prosper, or are you going to stain your hands and your mother's with innocent blood? I'll make certain you and Natashya get a fair cut of the Golden Saucer's profits for your pains."
"You can keep your dirty money." Heidegger fumed. "And you're still a dirty bastard. And what's worse is you're also a liar and a yellow-bellied coward, hidin' behind a kid like Eddie instead of fightin' this out with me. Let 'em go, Diocletian. I ain't gonna fight you on this, but you make one false step and Klaus Heidegger'll be the least of your worries. My Ma ain't so nice as me, or so forgivin'."
"Excellent. I'm glad to hear we see eye to eye, at last. Boys, you may untie them and go. I'll call you if I need anything else."
Heidegger waited until the Madison brothers had done the warden's bidding. Immediately upon being freed, Eddie raced across the room and hid behind his legs. For his part, Duke calmly stood, brushed himself off, removed a straw from his shirt pocket and wrapped his lips around it.
"Klaus is right, sir. And if you had any brain or heart ta speak of, you'da listened to him. This bargain you done made with Shinra ain't nothin' but trouble and, mark my words, it'll come back to haunt ya someday." Turning to the Madisons, Duke then said calmly. "I reckon one of you boys took my cane. I'd like it back now." When Alexander complied, Duke tipped his hat to him and hobbled across the room to join Heidegger.
"Thank you, Klaus Heidegger. Your help is certainly appreciated," the warden called after him.
"I ain't even gonna dignify that by tellin' you to shove it, sir. C'mon," Heidegger said as he scooped Eddie up into his arms. "No more cryin' now, ya hear? We're goin' home."
~*~
Half an hour later, Natashya descended the stairs in her house looking unusually tired. She tucked her large hands into her apron and sighed. "Well, after three stories an' a plate of ginger snaps, he's asleep for what it's worth," she announced to the kitchen.
Duke looked up from his plate. "Glad to hear it," he said as he offered Natashya an encouraging smile. Even in the dim sunlight coming from beneath the shutters, however, his smile looked forced.
"Shit, Ma, Diocletian's really lost it this time," Heidegger huffed into his beer. "What the hell're we gonna do."
Natashya wiped her hands off her apron and looked up at the ceiling. "Klaus Heidegger," she said after a long pause. "We ain't gonna do nothin' for the time being. And for the last time, what did I say about swearing in my kitchen?"
"Crap, Ma, you can't be serious!"
"I am dead serious, Klaus. No boy of mine is gonna have a gutter mouth, and I don't ever wanna hear another cuss word from you again. You got it?"
"Yeah, Ma, I got it but –"
"Now, as for Diocletian, there ain't a hell of a lot we can do about him right now. Like it or not, he's the real owner of this place, and from what you told me, I'm willing to believe Shinra's sent him more than money to make sure he gets the 'help' he wants. And I don't think any one of us here's up to fightin' a whole platoon or so of fully armed Shinra soldiers. This ain't nothin' like a feud with the Madisons, and the fact they've bought into this little scheme of his don't make things any easier."
"But Ma, we can't just sit here and –"
"We can very well just sit here! Because if we bide our time 'til we get to Midgar, we'll have a better chance of things."
"Hold it, Ma. If we can't fight the Shinra on our own soil, then how're we supposed to fight 'em on their's?"
"Because they won't be suspecting it is why! Look here. If we go along with Diocletian and Shinra all docile-like, then they'll think we've given in. So they won't be expectin' any kinda revolt. Also, we'll be away from our kids and old folk," she nodded appreciatively at Duke, "so they won't get caught in the crossfire."
"And you really think we can take on a bunch of Shinra at their home base?"
"Boy, if they had anyone else to do this work of theirs, do ya think they'da come to Coral for a bunch of lyin', stealin' thugs like us? 'Course not. They'da hired 'em already. So if we rebel at Midgar, stop workin' and seize all their fancy equipment, then they won't have no choice but to free us, or at least pay us decent for our work. Ya see it now?"
"Oh," Heidegger had to admit it, his Mother's plan made some sense. "Alright, but I still don't like it."
"Klaus," Natashya sighed, placing her hands on her son's expansive shoulders. "I don't see as we got a whole lotta choices now. And this one's probably the best we do got. Now you, me and Duke here are gonna sit on down and draw up a battle plan. Duke, you know when they're gonna start shipping us out to Midgar?"
The old man shook his head. "Well, Diocletian didn't say exactly, but the way he was goin' on, I reckon it'll be sometime this week."
"Right, then. We're gonna sit down and plan this thing out and then go tell everyone we can trust what's what. That way, we won't haveta tell anyone what's goin' on in Midgar if they're gonna have us monitored. And I bet real gil they plan on it."
"But Ma –"
"Son, you should listen to your betters," Duke said as he flicked the straw from his mouth. "They're older 'n' you and they've been around longer. And I think Mrs. Heidegger knows a lot about this kinda thing. Don't ya, Mrs. Heidegger."
"You just gotta trust me, Roo," Natashya said as she patted her son's back. "You been with me for twenty years now and I ain't never let you down so far, right? And I sure as hell don't plan on doing it now. So whaddya say, son? Plan this thing out with us?"
Heidegger looked around the room and sighed. "Alright," he said at last. "Let's do this."
(End Part One)
