26
Jenova's Wrath
Chapter Three
Shalimar typed away furiously at her keyboard, occasionally pausing to rub her eyes back to wakefulness. It was past three a.m. but she was determined to finish this study. What with this new epidemic of cases like Tifa's, more and more work seemed to be piling up at her door.
She paused again to read through her notes, determined that she wouldn't rest until she was finished. She didn't realise she had nodded off until a loud bang on the door made her jump out of her skin.
"Shalimar? You in there?"
Shalimar smiled, checking her watch. The glowing dial read 5:27a.m. Time to go to bed, she thought.
Zack stood outside the door impatiently waiting for some reply. He knew Shalimar wasn't in bed – he hadn't heard her come up the stairs and he was tired of her sheer determination to crack herself up. No matter how many times she promised to take it easy, she always broke them and always in her bid to help everybody – everybody except herself.
Finally the door opened and Shalimar's weary face appeared in the crack, wincing in the light of the hallway. Zack gave her a half hearted glare and then closed the door behind her.
"Bed," he said, firmly, stunned when she just smiled and walked off upstairs without a word of protest.
--(FFVII)--
"Shal?"
Shalimar flipped her head back, her long hair whipping through the air to settle down her back, dripping water all over the kitchen floor.
"Yeah?"
"She cocked her head to one side as she towelled her hair dry. Zack sipped his morning coffee.
"Um…"
Shalimar laughed as she wound her hair into its customary spiral ponytail, watching Zack's frown as she did so.
"Spit it out," she laughed gently. Zack shook his head, secretly wishing that just once, she'd wear her hair down – she looked far prettier when she did. Plus, it would stop Vincent being so antsy. Apparently she reminded him of an old scientist acquaintance of his from years ago. Everything but the eyes, he'd said. He looked back at Shalimar.
"Cloud's given me the day off."
Shalimar looked at him as she grabbed her coffee and joined him at the kitchen table.
"Great! You've been complaining that he works you too hard."
He shook his head, looking awkward.
"Yeah, I know. It's just that… I don't know…"
She cocked her head to one side again.
"Zack, what's wrong? He's given you a day off work. Time to relax, enjoy yourself. You know, the usual sort of thing. From what Tseng's told me, you spent most of your free time chatting up girls, so why don't you go do that?"
She smiled at him. He knew she was only teasing, but they both knew there was truth to the statement. He looked down into his coffee cup.
"I was kinda wondering if your offer was still open," he said nervously. It always struck Shalimar how a man of 26 could still act like his eighteen-year old self. She looked confused for a moment before realisation dawned.
"Oh! You mean when you first moved in and I said you could always come with me to work if you didn't wanna be alone?"
He nodded dumbly. She smiled and patted his arm, draining her coffee cup.
"Sure, it'll be nice to have someone there who isn't a scientist or Tseng."
She grabbed her coat and opened the front door.
"Come on."
--(FFVII)--
Shalimar had barely stepped through the door before Aide Johnson was rushing toward her.
"Doctor!" he called as he sped across the lab. Shalimar turned toward him, an annoyed expression on her face as she replaced her jacket with her labcoat.
"Johnson, what have I told you about calling me that?"
Johnson stopped in front of her looking contrite.
"Don't?" he ventured. Shalimar nodded, satisfied.
"So?" she prompted. He swallowed and looked at her.
"Shalimar," he said, carefully. She nodded and he continued clearly feeling a little more confident. "We've finished our blood analysis. All of the blood used had one common factor."
Shalimar looked at him expectantly as her Aide stood there looking pleased with himself. Zack stifled a laugh as Shalimar sighed.
"Which was, Johnson?"
"Oh! Um, all of the blood had Jenova cells in it, or was modified by a Jenova-linked process."
Shalimar looked hard at him.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, we checked it three times."
"Good," she said as she walked swiftly down the lab toward her office with Zack in tow. Finally, they were getting somewhere.
-(FFVII)--
Shalimar was taking notes on another case file while Zack sat on the other side of her desk, talking idly about random rubbish that Shalimar knew he had no interest in. She was simply waiting for him to get to the point.
Zack leaned backward on the chair, balancing it on the back legs as he pondered over his next question. He was scared he was about to lose Shalimar, but then, that was the risk, he supposed. Damn Yuffie and her adventurous plans.
"Shal?"
"Hmm?" She continued note taking and Zack paused for a moment. Better now than never.
"What would you say if I started dating Tifa?"
Shalimar was tempted to look up at him and stare, but she had better control over herself than that and restrained the urge, keeping her gaze focused instead on her notes. She finished the sentence she was writing with controlled concentration.
"I'd say it's entirely up to you who you date. The time of when you had to come to me for permission to do things has long since gone, Zack."
Zack felt like he'd been kicked. She hadn't even looked up from her work, almost like it hadn't bothered her in the slightest. Still, no turning back now.
"I know, but I still value your opinion, if not as my scientist or carer, then as my best friend."
She looked up then, her cornflower-blue gaze searching his Mako-tainted eyes. Then she smiled.
"Tifa's a nice girl and she's very taken with you. I think you'll make a very sweet couple." Zack stared at her as she returned to work, nodding as he tried not to think about Shalimar's lack of emotion.
--(FFVII)--
"Tifa, am I right in saying that you had a blood transfusion a few years back after an injury you sustained while working at Seventh Heaven in the slums?"
Tifa nodded.
"Yeah, this complete idiot came in, completely off his face swinging a broken bottle around. Barrett sorted it out, but not before I got hurt. I lost a lot of blood apparently, so they gave me a transfusion."
Shalimar nodded.
"That's good, that fits with the information we have, so don't worry. We've got another piece of this solved."
Tifa nodded, fidgeting slightly. Shalimar smiled at her.
"Look, don't worry. We're still only in the research stages at the moment so try not to get too agitated, you'll just make yourself suffer. The moment I know something, you will. I promise."
Tifa nodded, swallowing nervously. The woman was radiating nervousness and anticipation and it was driving Shalimar mad. There really wasn't all that much to get nervous about.
She set about putting her notes away in her bag and pulled on her coat. She'd spotted something in the files earlier that she was eager to follow up on. She was hopeful that it might be a lead that could give her more information. And the sooner she got back to the lab, the sooner she could continue this research. She sighed. She really needed to teach her team to be more efficient in the research department.
"Do you know Zack and I are together?" Tifa blurted. She looked shocked that she'd come outright with it and sat biting her lip. Shalimar stared at her, her hand raised in mid air. She let the question sink in for a moment then continued straightening her jacket and then picked up her bag.
"Yes, I do, Zack said something about it the other day, why?"
Tifa looked slightly relieved but Shalimar could have sworn there was a flicker of annoyance too.
"Good, um… you're not angry are you?"
Shalimar didn't know what to do with herself. What sort of a question was that?
"No, why would I be?" she asked, more than confused. Tifa shrugged.
"I dunno, I guess I kinda figured that you liked him."
Shalimar couldn't help staring at this point. She knew she was making Tifa more and more uncomfortable but she couldn't help it. She'd never been confronted like this before and had no idea how to react.
"No… Tifa, I spent two years bringing Zack back to life, giving him his strength back, his memories, everything… I… I don't know. I guess because I know him so well…" She trailed off. She was babbling and her brain kicked into gear, reminding her that babbling was dangerous and she could give too much away.
"What I'm saying is that there's this code. Even if I did like Zack, which believe me, when you know as much about him as I do, is completely impossible, the code that all scientists have to abide by in Shinra prevents us from pursuing relationships with people we use in our study or people we treat. It's supposed to prevent us from taking advantage of people," she explained, feeling a lot calmer and a lot more in control.
Tifa looked at her for a moment and then nodded, rising out of her chair.
"Makes sense," she said as she walked Shalimar to the door. "Sorry if the question made you uncomfortable, I just didn't want to tread on anybody's toes, that's all."
Shalimar shook her head, smiling graciously.
"Don't worry about it, it's fine."
Yet, as Shalimar walked toward her car, she couldn't shake the feeling that a knife had been plunged to the hilt in her heart. Even as she drove back to work and pulled up in the Shinra employee car park, tears wetted her eyes as she tried desperately to drive any thoughts of Zack and herself away from her mind and her heart.
--(FFVII)--
Shalimar sat bolt upright in her bed, her eyes adjusting to the darkness around her while her mind tried to understand what had woken her. She gripped the quilt tighter to her chest as she glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside table. It read 00:12am. She sighed and rifled a hand through her long hair, the sound of someone banging on her front door nearly making her jump out of her skin. She contemplated turning over and going back to sleep when another almighty bang changed her mind. If she didn't let whoever it was in, she had a feeling they'd just break down the door.
She crawled out of bed and pulled on a t-shirt at least two sizes too big. She didn't really care for appearances this early in the morning.
She made her way to the bottom of the stairs, swiping her hand across the small table there in search of her keys when she heard Zack's bedroom door open.
"Shal? Is that you?"
She reached for the lamp and flicked it on to a dim glow. She looked up at him, his eyes blurry with sleep, his hair a tousled mess.
"Yeah, sorry, I can't find my keys."
He nodded and came down the stairs as their unknown caller banged threateningly on the door again. Shalimar kicked the door fiercely in reply.
"Alright! Give me a minute!" she yelled back, annoyed. She looked at Zack and gave him a soft, resigned smile before getting on her hands and knees and looking under the sideboard for her keys. Zack stepped back and leant against the hallway wall, tilting his head so he could get a better look. He might have been half asleep, but he was still a red blooded male, and there was no way he was letting a view of Shalimar's ass go to waste. Especially when she was dressed in nothing but a t-shirt and her underwear.
"Got them!" came Shalimar's triumphant voice from beneath the sideboard. Zack hastily tried to look innocent as she surfaced, accidentally cracking her head on the edge of the table as she did so. She gave him a knowing glare and then rolled her eyes as she unlocked the door.
"Right, now who the hell decided to nearly break my door down at this time in the morning?"
"We did, Shal, please, can you let us in?" came Yuffie's urgent voice. Shalimar opened the door to find Yuffie stood anxiously watching her, Vincent stood right behind her, the limp form of a woman draped in his arms. Shalimar's face showed sheer shock as she stepped back to let them in.
"What the hell? It's nearly half twelve in the morning!"
She cast a glance at Zack as she closed the front door and led them through to the kitchen, flicking on the harsh, glaring light. She propped up pillows on the couch and indicated to Vincent to set the woman down.
"We found her while we were out on Patrol," Yuffie explained. "She was just lying in the middle of the road – you know one of the old highways that used to circulate Midgar, heading for the old Shinra HQ?"
Zack nodded, taking a seat at the kitchen table as he listened to her. Vincent, was stood by the couch, his eyes not on the woman he had lain there, but instead on Shalimar, who seemed to be staring in shock at her.
"Well," Yuffie continued. "We didn't know where to take her, but we decided here was best – it was closer than Tifa's bar, and we figured Shal could give her a check over or something." Zack nodded as Yuffie sat down.
"Don't worry, Shalimar will take care of it, you'll see."
They both turned to look at Shalimar, who was still stood looking at the woman. Cold fire flooded through her veins and anger gripped her heart. She was having a hard time subduing it so she tried to breathe, carefully letting each breath place a layer of ice over her heart and emotions. She would be careful about this, she would.
"Shalimar, is there something wrong?"
Vincent's deep, melodic voice lulled her from her thoughts of outrage and shame and she looked at him, her eyes cold and distant.
"I'm fine. Was she unconscious when you found her?"
Vincent nodded the affirmative, still looking at her searchingly. Shalimar ignored him and settled on her knees by the couch, reaching for the woman's pulse. She found it, a faint but determined beating of the heart, forcing blood reluctantly through the woman's veins. It made sense, thought Shalimar wryly. She always said how she wanted to die so much.
Shalimar disappeared into her basement laboratory for a moment then reappeared, a sealed needle in her hands. She ripped off the packaging and plunged it into a vein in the woman's arm. Then, she threw the needle away and turned to Yuffie.
"Do you have any materia?"
Yuffie nodded.
"Then use Cure on her a couple of times. I think there's been a little bit of damage to her both physically and mentally. The magic should remove the worst of the damage."
Yuffie nodded and got to work. Vincent followed Shalimar to the kitchen island.
"What did you give her?"
"Something to make her wake up."
Vincent looked at her, confusion clouding his eyes. She glanced at him and sighed, turning away to stand by the large, full length windows.
"Why, Vincent? She's supposed to be in a Mako crystal… You told me she was in a Mako crystal when I asked you!"
Vincent sighed, annoyed that he hadn't asked what Shalimar's interest in this woman had been then. It might have given him some idea as to why Shalimar was reacting this way now.
"She was, the last time I visited. I haven't been back for a while. I have had… other commitments."
Shalimar looked at him for a long time and then sighed, nodding. Zack came and stood by her side.
"What's wrong? Who is she?"
Shalimar shook her head and turned to watch the woman on the couch as she slowly woke. The woman's eyes fluttered open reluctantly, looking dazed as they adjusted to the bright glare of the kitchen's light. Her breathing was slightly irregular, but it settled as she calmed, looking around her, grasping a vague idea of where she was. After a few moments, the woman sat up, massaging her head as if to relieve pain. Yuffie, still kneeling by the sofa, smiled at her.
"Welcome back," she said politely. The woman turned to look at her, confused brown eyes searching equally concerned green ones. She smiled gently.
"Hello," was all she said. She transferred her gaze steadily up, letting it rest for a moment on Zack, shock registering on her features as she settled it on Vincent, but as her gaze fell on Shalimar, her reaction was noticeable worse. She gasped, turned away and then looked back, staring as though she could hardly believe her eyes.
"No," she whispered. "It can't be… can it?"
Shalimar looked back at her with carefully controlled cold indifference, but she could feel her resolve slipping. She needed to get away, but she couldn't.
The woman rose from the sofa and walked uncertainly toward her, her eyes roving all over Shalimar's body, lingering on her ass-length hair and her bright cornflower blue eyes tainted with cold ice as she tried to remain indifferent and unemotional. The woman reached out as she drew near to her, her hands touching Shalimar's skin, her hair, and finally her face, feeling every curve and feature as if certain that she couldn't be real.
Yuffie rose and went to stand near Vincent. She didn't like this and she was frightened for Shalimar.
"Is it really you…?" the woman asked, almost breathless with wonder. Shalimar nodded almost imperceptibly. The woman's eyes glittered with tears, joy radiating from every feature.
"But he said you were dead! He swore to me that you had died in a lab accident!"
Shalimar laughed bitterly.
"I would have though by now that you would have learned not to believe that lying bastard."
The woman recoiled slightly at the harshness of Shalimar's words, but regained her ground.
"No, I didn't want to believe it… You were too clever, too bright… You would never have made such a foolish mistake…"
She smiled appraisingly at Shalimar who looked away, out of the window. Shalimar felt ashamed that she would rather face the black void beyond the windows than the emotion shining from this woman's face. But she couldn't face her. Couldn't risk giving the game away.
Her mind laughed at her, reminding her that she would have to explain this. The game was already up.
"Shalimar?"
She turned back toward the group assembled in her kitchen, her gaze caught by Vincent's questioning stare.
"I think I speak for everyone when I ask what is going on."
She knew why he was upset. Here was this woman, his long lost love, and she was more interested in Shalimar than she was in him. She had a rough idea of how that must hurt, but she couldn't feel sympathy. She was too wrapped up in her own emotions at the moment. She sighed and walked away toward the sofa, a hand reaching down to play with the corner of a cushion, wrapping and twisting the fabric between her fingers as she sought for the words.
She sighed, turning to face the, determination setting her features. Here goes…
"Zack, Vincent, Yuffie, I would like you to meet my biological mother... Dr Lucrecia Crescent."
By Arachinea
