I: The winner's prize

Even though no real battle had been fought, when I stepped back into Rufus' office for the first time since leaving, I felt as though I'd won a war. Rufus must've noticed, too, because he just smirked at me.

"Don't look so smug just yet," he told me. "Have a seat."

For once, I silently did as I was told. After all, he hadn't officially hired me back yet, meaning my name was still not on the payroll. For now, I was under his authority completely.

"You do realize by now, I hope, that I sent you to Fort Condor for a legitimate reason," he said. I nodded.

"The rival company, right?" I answered. "Aragaki Industries?"

"Yeah, that's them." Rufus sighed. "Normally I wouldn't bother giving them a minute of my attention, but lately they've been sneakier than usual." He paused, then continued, looking me straight in the eye. "I have more than one reason to believe that they have been spying on our company."

"Really? Are they that competitive?"

"The president of Aragaki Industries is desperate. I've known him for a while, and he has always been the type to do anything to get ahead. He hasn't been ahead in a long time, hence the drastic measures now."

"I did notice some shady stuff going on over there," I admitted. "But d'ya think they've got spies working out here, too?"

"Were you in his shoes, would you do the same?"

I nodded. He had a valid point. Even if Rufus had done background checks on every person he'd ever hired, he still might not be able to track a spy. After all, that was part of their job-to go undercover.

"You want me to find the spy."

"You can handle it, can't you?"

Smirking, I shrugged. "I'll give it a go. What can it hurt?"

"Then, welcome back to Edge, Mae."

^^vv^^vv^^

"There she is, the runaway herself!" Elena shouted as Mae walked through the door to Rude's apartment. Rude, Reno, and Tseng were already there waiting.

"Yes, yes, I know I'm high in demand, but please, calm down," Mae said, waving her hands as if to settle an imaginary crowd down. Elena laughed and hugged Mae tightly. "Ow, ow, OK, I missed you too. Now let's just get this move-in over with."

The guys stood, Reno leading the way. Rude hung back, as usual assuming his role as the quiet guardian. But that was how it had always been for him.

Rude had always been quiet. He realized from an early age that it was advantageous for him to be on the silent side. Attracting unwanted attention for his appearance anyway, Rude kept that in mind as he grew up, and because of his demeanor, he had few enemies.

His first impression of Reno was not a positive one. Rude was always one to quickly judge those who were loud, and Reno fit that description both physically and in personality. Rude didn't talk much, but Reno did, and sometimes Reno talked for Rude, which was irritating. Still, Rude was never able to bring himself to correct Reno.

One day, after they had been co-workers for some time, Rude let a single comment slip:

"You know, Reno, you really do talk too much."

To Rude's surprise, Reno just laughed.

"Yeah, I know. But you keep listening, so how can I help myself?"

"Do you ever listen?"

"Well, you've never asked me to."

In that exchange, the two had reached an understanding. The two trusted each other very much, and Rude eventually became grateful to have Reno around, not only as his partner on missions, but as a friend.

When Mae started at ShinRa, she almost immediately befriended Rude, simply because she found him to be a relief.

"Man, finally, a silent-type guy. You're a blessing, y'know it?" she had said, only kidding a little. "That Reno guy-he drives me insane! Not that it's anything new."

Mae revealed later that she had known Reno from high school, and Rude believed it. Though he never said it, Rude imagined Mae and Reno as very similar people at times, and at other times entirely different. Regardless of the trouble they both got him into, he enjoyed being their friend.

^^vv^^vv^^

"Not gonna lie, I'm kinda jealous of you, Mae," Elena said as she followed me up the stairs. "You're going to have so much fun here."

"Yep, two clowns at my disposal," I joked. Elena joined me in laughing.

I was, of course, referring to Reno and Rude. Before moving out of Edge, I had lived in a separate apartment complex, but this time, my old room hadn't been available for me, and I ended up in the same complex as them. We were on different floors, but I was directly below Rude's room. Really, it couldn't have worked out any better. Had I ended up below Reno, or above, I would have run into some problems.

But I'm not to that yet, am I?

Anyway, the move-in was quick, what with all of them helping me, and soon we were settling on dinner plans.

As Reno and Rude tried to look up decent take-out, Tseng started a conversation. He usually was like that when things settled down. Outside of work, we were his only source of entertainment.

"Did you know about the award ceremony we're having this year, Mae?" he asked, and I thought about it for a minute.

"Well, I guess we have a dinner for our annual awards, right?" I replied. Elena nodded in confirmation. Every year at ShinRa, there was an award banquet; that was the time for big announcements and promotions, awarding licenses, and employee of the year. Usually it wasn't much of an event; I had missed last year's, but we'd had a smaller version at Fort Condor.

"This year marks an anniversary, though," Tseng pointed out. "Meaning-"

"They're pulling out all the stops for it," Elena finished. Her eyes were practically glittering. "Seriously, it's, like, some kinda ball or something."

"…I'm wearing a suit," I said, sighing and leaning back on my couch. Elena elbowed me.

"You have to dress up, c'mon…" Elena let out a frustrated sigh. I imitated her, folding my arms across my chest.

"YO!" I shouted. "Reno, Rude! You guys done yet?"

"Almost, almost," Reno grumbled.

"It's not my fault," Rude added. I couldn't help but grin.

Suddenly, there was a knock on my door. Elena and Tseng looked at each other in confusion. I was equally perplexed; I hadn't invited anyone else.

Maybe it's Rufus, I thought, not putting it past him to barge in uninvited. I couldn't do anything to stop him if he was already here, so I got up and answered the door.

The moment I opened the door, I got tackle-hugged. I nearly fell over, because I wasn't expecting it. But the weirdest part was that I didn't recognize this person-it was some girl.

"Excuse me, but are you drunk?" I asked, pushing the girl away. She beamed up at me, then her face seemed to fall in disappointment. It was then that I recognized her from the party at Rufus' house.

"Oh…I-you're…you're not who I thought-oh~!"

Pushing past me, the girl rushed over to Reno, who seemed surprised but not unhappy.

"Did you see what I just did?" she laughed, hugging him. "I got soooo confused! Why are we meeting here? This isn't your room, right?"

"No, it's mine," I said loudly, shutting the door hard.

"Ah, yeah," Reno said, stepping past the blonde. "You two have never officially met. Mae, this is Annya. She got hired into your spot when you left. Annya, this is Mae."

"Sorry I hugged you," she said, smiling. She had the face of an angel, but those are the type you should avoid in the end. "You just looked like Reno from a glance."

I could feel my face go sour at her comment. Over Elena's snicker, I managed to sputter, "Nice to meet you too."

"I invited her over; that's cool, right?" Reno said. He didn't give me time to answer, probably because he already knew what the answer was going to be. "So anyway, take-out, anyone?"