Sanctuary 2
The two Turks named Reno and Elena stared at their children, as did the man named General Sephiroth, who was doing the same save for the fact that he was glaring at his twin sons. Elena was toying with her handgun somewhere inside her suit, and Reno was fiddling with his activated EMR in one hand. For Sephiroth, he settled with staring daggers at his two truant-playing offspring. The other six teenagers present remained silent, as did the other three men seated behind Reno, Elena, and Sephiroth.
Elena cleared her throat, while smiling sweetly at her daughter, "Now, now, Larxene. Is there a reason or three that I shouldn't open fire on you right here? Last I knew, today was a school day for you lot."
"Mom," Larxene swallowed hard, "We were being-"
"Unruly, rule-breaking, truant-playing students?" snapped Sephiroth, earning himself a powerful clout upside the head from an angry Elena. The long haired soldier glared at her, but backed down when he saw her handgun out of her suit holster. He'd been on the receiving end of one of Elena's super nasty bitch fits before, and it wasn't an experience he'd be happy to repeat.
"Where was I again?" asked Elena pleasantly, cocking the gun's hammer. Reno sighed audibly, removing a box of cigarettes from his suit pocket.
"Why they are here today? And at this time?" the redheaded man said, lighting a cigarette with his sparking EMR, "Hurry up with it, Elena! Axel's ass is gonna make its acquaintance with my buddy EMR here."
"Sodomy's a crime, Axel," said Sephiroth, eyebrow raised, "You'd be persecuted for child molestation."
Axel cheeped in panic, and passed out on the floor, just as Seifer, Rai, and Fuu barged in through the front door. The terrible trio were panting and perspiring, having run past the coffee shop several times before seeing that their victims were hiding inside, courtesy of a well-cleaned display window in the shopfront.
"There they are!" shouted Seifer, causing Rai and Fuu to step forward, cracking their knuckles menacingly.
Only then did the three bullies notice the Turks and Sephiroth, who were looking at them like something you would scrape off the sole of your shoe. Seifer took a nervous step backwards, as did Fuu and Rai when they realized who they'd run into. And to add insult to injury, the two standing Turks looked particularly pissed off.
"Um, I think we got in the wrong shop," stuttered Seifer, backtracking towards the door, "So we'll be just leav-"
"You toerags are Heidegger, Scarlet, and Palmer's kids, aren't you?" asked a man garbed entirely in white, from where he had been seated behind a huge, bald Turk who wore a pair of mirrored sunglasses.
"Yes," answered Fuu, seemingly without any fear, "Scarlet is my mother."
President Rufus Shinra stood up at his seat, cocking an eyebrow at the red eyed teen, "So what should I tell her, hmm? That her daughter is out playing truant and," he sneaked a glance at the Losers, "Picking on other students?"
"It's not like that, sir," stammered Seifer, while Rai broke out into a sweat, "They were troublemakers, you see, and-"
"Shut'cha pie hole!" said Reno waspishly, causing Seifer to cringe, his cigarette falling onto the floor where he promptly stepped it out, "You idiots are every bit as pathetic as your parents! Now get out of my sight, before I go apeshit on ya!"
The words had no sooner left his mouth, when Seifer, Rai, and Fuu fled out of the coffee shop's front door. Through the display window, all who were present in the coffee shop watched as the three teens ran pell-mell away from their location, towards Steamboat Willie Avenue. Before anyone could say or do anything, a calm, masculine voice spoke up.
"Kindly put away your weapons, people. You know I don't like fights in here!"
Elena begrudgingly stowed away her handgun in her suit, while Reno turned off his EMR and snapped it into its compressed form, keeping the entire assembly in his suit. The two seated Turks and Rufus Shinra issued brief words of greeting to the man who had spoken, while Sephiroth merely took a seat, looking disgruntled. All nine conscious teenagers present there whirled about to see who the speaker was, and there he was, wiping the counter with a rag. He looked at them with an intense stare, just as Axel came around, sending Axel into a fit of panicked babbling once the spiky-haired redhead noticed the man's scrutiny.
The man appeared to be a tad past his mid-life years, if the white streaks in his long blond hair were any indication of his age. He wore a pair of metal-framed spectacles over his light blue eyes, and had a neatly trimmed moustache as well as beard. He looked up from his cleaning to visually appraise the newcomers, with a small smile.
"Tseng, isn't it a school day today?" the old man asked, balling-up the rag and throwing it into a small, water-filled bucket by the side of the counter.
"It is," the black-haired Turk replied, with a curt nod, "Though why they are here, I can't say."
"Hooky players, obviously," sniffed Rufus Shinra, while Elena, Sephiroth, and Reno glared at their respective children, once again sending said teens cowering into the corners of the shop.
"If those idiots were after me, I'd play hooky, too," said the proprietor primly, "Especially since those same idiots have parents that work in positions high enough in Shinra to kick up some indecent shit if their kids got ruffled."
"I'll be seeing to that," said Rufus, waving a hand dismissively, "They've caused enough trouble already in the company. And now..."
The blond president smirked at the coffee shop's proprietor, "How about some coffee?"
"Hang on a sec, will ya? Just got here."
The old man shuffled out of sight into a small room behind the counter, and presto! The ten teens found themselves being glared at by the Shinra employees, once again.
"Bullies, huh?" to say that Elena looked furious would be an understatement.
"You should have-" Tseng started, but was interrupted by Elena.
"Beaten the hell out of them!"
Everyone in the room stared at Elena in bewilderment. The female Turk realized this, and quickly defended her statement.
"Hey, I whoop Scarlet all the time!"
"But Scarlet can't come over and mess with your life," pointed out Rufus, "She can mess theirs up easily enough."
Elena sat down with a huff, "Alright then. You scumbags get back to school!"
"No. By all means - stay here for the day."
The adults now stared at the old man, who had reappeared with a large tray of coffee, buttered toast, and boiled eggs. He grinned impishly at them, and set the tray down in front of them.
He turned to the teens, "I've been running this shop since the seventies, and your parents were definitely the biggest hooky players Twilight Town High has ever seen."
"DIZ!" shrieked Elena, "HOW COULD YOU?!"
Reno merely grunted as he lit a fresh cigarette, while Sephiroth tried to burn Diz into a crisp using his patented 'Glare of Death'.
"Now, now, Elena," said Diz, wagging a finger at her as he would at a naughty child, "These young people are old enough to decide for themselves if they want to continue with their education. And besides..."
He rolled his eyes, "It's Friday. Let them have the day off - they can catch up with lost work over the weekend."
Elena tried to speak up, but was cut-off by Tseng.
"Let it be, Elena."
She angrily poured herself a cup of steaming coffee, and settled for ferociously tearing into a slice of toast instead of further terrorizing her daughter and her delinquent friends. Visibly relaxed, all the other Shinra employees started digging into the large spread laid out before them.
The old man, who was apparently named Diz, turned to the teens (who by the way, were still huddled together in a corner), and spoke to them in a puzzled voice.
"Why are you all piled up there? Get up and get seated, will you? Do you want something?"
"The coffee here is good," added Reno, blowing several smoke rings into the air, "Heck, anything here is good."
"For today, I'll even give you kids freebies," offered Diz, moving back behind the counter, "So what will it be?"
xxx
Twenty minutes later, the Shinra employees were all gone, having left for work at the Shinra Headquarters, in the heart of congested Midgar City (but not before threatening the ten teens with several creative tortures and punishments if they played hooky again). The ten teenagers had taken to sitting around a large round table near the counter, and were currently doing their homework, of all things. At Diz's suggestion, they had decided to skip school that day, and catch up on late assignments during the free time.
Besides, Diz said that he would have a word with Mr. Xemnas about their absence today. Without having to worry about their names being blacklisted by Twilight Town High's sadistic disciplinary teacher made things much better, obviously. Mr. Xemnas was feared by everyone in their school, especially since he took particular pleasure in dishing out corporal punishment to wayward students. His female counterpart, Mrs. Lani, was an equally nasty teacher, who dealt with misbehaving female students in her own ways - which were rumored to be just as bad as Xemnas'.
"So, how did you know our parents?" asked Axel, as he took a bite out of his toast. His dad had been right - the grub at this place was damned tasty.
"And their hooky?" added Riku, looking up from his English notes.
Diz, who had been washing the Shinra employees' dishes behind the counter, paused in his work for a moment, before answering.
"Well, I have been running this establishment for thirty-seven years now..." he waved a hand to gesture at the black-and-white tiled floor, wooden chairs and tables topped-off with marble, and curling stencil font on his front display window. The fans on the ceiling were VERY grimy, and the fuse-box in the corner was covered in cobwebs. Upon closer inspection, the glasses and serving dishes were also quite visibly aged - the enamel plates were yellowed, and the glasses were actual glass, and not hardened plastic.
"Back when I opened this shop, Midgar was a little town, and Shinra Incorporated was little more than an electricity power company. Now they've got SOLDIER and all kinds of other nifty lil' operations running under them."
"You opened this place in 1978?" asked Zexion, his visible eyebrow raised, "Or did you take over after that?"
"Smart lad," said Diz, starting to dry the dishes, "But no, actually - I didn't take over this business as per se. I started this coffee shop with a friend of mine - Yen Sid."
"Yen Sid?!" Sora exclaimed, "The Yen Sid?!"
"I think there is only one Yen Sid, so that must be him," replied Diz with a laugh, "Yes, we split our partnership somewhere in 1988, and he went on to open that fast food franchise... McMoogles, I believe it was called."
"Yes, Yen Sid is the CEO of McMoogles," nodded Roxas, "But you still haven't answered Axel's question - how did you come to know their parents?"
Diz, now finished with the dishes, walked around the counter and pulled up a chair at their table. Sitting down in between Marluxia and Demyx, he poured himself a cup of coffee, from the jug that he had served them with.
"Elena, Reno, and Sephiroth started going to Twilight Town High in... 1986, I think. Back then, there was this real asshole of a calculus teacher. He was called... Mr. Ansem. Yes, Mr. Ansem. So one day, Reno decides to put a stink bomb or three under Mr. Ansem's chair."
"My dad did what?!" Axel sputtered, as he choked on his coffee, more amazed by the fact that his father had tried to prank a teacher, this amazement superseding that regarding his father studying calculus.
"He placed several stink bombs under the lining of Ansem's chair, which all went off beautifully when the old bugger sat down on them," confirmed Diz, smiling, "And of course, ol' Ansem knew immediately who the culprit was!"
"Oh dear," said Marluxia, partially because he was listening to Diz, and also because he had misspelled 'the' on his essay.
"Oh dear indeed! Reno was soon running for his hide from Ansem, and of course, Elena, Sephiroth, Rude, Tseng, and Rufus took the opportunity to escape, and joined him on the run."
"They ran out of school just like that?" asked Sora, his eyes the size of dinner plates.
"Well, they were all top of their classes, so no one was gonna bother them much for missing school," Diz replied, "I'll have you know that Elena was the top student for English that year, and Rude has held the highest grade for a Physics final since 1990. Tseng made salutatorian, and one of their current colleagues, James Hojo, made valedictorian."
"The bald guy was Rude, right?" asked Larxene, as she wiped a crumb off her notes.
"Yes."
Roxas burst into giggles at Diz's answer, and everyone turned to look at him in confusion.
"It's just... It..." Roxas was struggling to speak clearly, "The top physics grade record is held by a certain Rudolph Jackson."
"How can such a bad-ass Turk like Rude have a pansy name like Rudolph?!" said Axel, seemingly bewildered.
"We are getting sidetracked again," said Zexion in a sharp voice, "So could we please get back on topic?"
"Zexy, you're sooo anal..."
"Shut it, Kairi."
"Anyway," Diz went on, "Those six ran out of school, and Ansem actually followed them! So they ran onto this street, and just as they got to my doorstep, the school bell rang. So technically, they weren't playing hooky anymore!"
"Oh my," said Namine, wide eyed, "That's... lucky..."
"You bet it was, darling. One minute they're standing out there, hearing the bell ring, next second, they're all in here because Mr. Ansem didn't give two hoots that the bell had gone, and was still pursuing them!"
"So that's how you met our parents?" asked Riku, with a grin.
"Sure. Hid them in the pantry and told Ansem that they escaped out the back door into the alley. Old bastard never suspected me of hiding them in here."
"You seem surprisingly tolerant towards truant playing students," noted Marluxia, as he grabbed the last piece of toast.
"Bah! A little hooky never hurt anyone before! Hell, all you teachers have their own stories, too!"
"Next thing I know, you'll be pulling out stories about them as well," smirked Demyx.
"Stories? I'll show you pictures! Gimme a sec!"
Diz stood up and marched over to the counter. Reaching under the old and stained wooden counter-top, he pulled out a large, leather-bound album and walked back to the table. Plopping the large book down on the table, he drew out a pair of reading glasses from his shirt pocket, and took off his metal spectacles, then put the bifocals on. All in all, he now looked even more like somebody's grandfather, but with more blond hair than white.
"My collection of photos since 1978!" he declared proudly, "Your parents and teachers included!"
The ten teens let out interested replies, and huddled closer around the seated Diz as he opened the album, and flipped through its age-yellowed pages.
"Hmm... Not yet..." the old man said, flipping past pictures of some shops, people, and other random shots, "Ah, there it is! I give you the class of 1981, with some of your older teachers in it!"
The picture in concern showed only seven teens, standing around Diz. The coffee shop in the picture looked the same as it did presently.
"Umm, there are only seven kids in the shot," observed Kairi.
"Well, I don't bother about those who don't come here, do I?" answered Diz, "After all, those that come here are those that I know."
"So in this picture we have Xemnas, Xaldin, Xigbar, Vexen, Lexeaus, Saix, and Luxord," stated Diz, pointing out each face as he rattled off the names, "Luxord was the only one who didn't eventually become a teacher - he went into banking, and runs a casino on the side. Vexen and Lexeaus did some research before going into teaching, while the other four worked here and there before settling for teaching."
"Dude, Mr. Vexen had funky hair!" said Axel excitedly, pointing at the spiky-haired image of his current chemistry teacher, "Finally, a teacher who once understood the beauty of spiky hair!"
"You're just bitter because Mr. Xemnas washed out your gel once when he was pissed off," snorted Namine, "I'm more surprised that Mr. Saix wore glasses! And what about Mr. Xemnas' mohawk?!"
Diz let them gawk at the picture for a while, before speaking up, "Your teachers are human too, you know. They were all once young like you, so go easy on them, alright? They aren't too bad once you get to know them."
"So, let's move on to your parents' picture now... Class of 1985, I think..."
Flip, flip. Momentary pause at the picture of a naked woman holding a beer keg in front of 'the goods'. Flip, flip. Bingo.
"That's mom?!" Larxene thrilled, seeing Elena's picture from 1986.
"Dude, my dad ROCKS!" Axel cheered.
"Whoa, dad!" exclaimed Riku, while Zexion stared bug-eyed at their father's picture as an eighteen-year-old teenager that was into punk rock.
The picture, looking slightly newer than the one showing their older teachers, showed eight teens standing around a seated Diz, who was wearing sunglasses. Tseng and Rufus were standing in the corner of the photograph, their clothes immaculately neat. In the center of the picture, just behind Diz, were Elena and Reno. Elena was in a tank top that looked tight enough to have been spray-painted on, and wore her hair in two trailing bangs much like Larxene did now. Reno had his ponytail and spikes, and was wearing a ripped jacket with the barely-readable words 'FUK THE FEDS' on its back (the words were visible cause he was mooning the camera at the second that shot was taken). Rude was standing in a position that was reminiscent of military 'at ease' standing next to a boy with spectacles and long black hair. At the other end of the picture from Tseng and Rufus were a guy that was obviously Sephiroth in a sleeveless hoodie and with chains sticking out of his pockets, and a guy with a wide smile holding a stuffed cat in his arms, said feline wearing a little cape and a crown.
"Rufus, Tseng, Reno, Elena, Rude, Hojo, Sephiroth, and Reeve," said Diz with a small smile, "The kids that brightened this place up so much even after Yen Sid abandoned it for burgers."
None of the teens present voiced out the fact that they did like McMoogles' burgers (especially the 'Grilled Pom Pom' burgers. Yummy...), and instead focused on seeing Axel's, Larxene's, and Riku as well as Zexion's parents.
"Axel, I know this might sound creepy, but your dad has one awesome butt in this picture," Kairi giggled.
Axel made some retching noises, and mimed puking onto the table, "I don't know whether to take that as a compliment to the genes I got from him or to be disgusted thoroughly."
"Shocked, huh?" asked Diz, "Bet you never thought that your parents actually did some wild shit back in their day, didja? They were cool then, and they are cool now."
"Who are the other two?" asked Namine, pointing at Hojo and Reeve, "How did they come to know you?"
"Hojo and Reeve started coming here after seeing the others come in here one day," answered Diz, "And since then, they've been regular customers. Hojo comes at night before I close mostly, and Reeve comes at least once a week, during lunch hour. After all, his 'Hello Cait' company requires quite a bit of his time."
"'Hello Cait'?" said Sora incredulously, "The soft toy corporation?"
"Yup, the one which squashed Mashimaro and Snoopy once it gained enough corporate muscle. Reeve started it, and even the military gets some androids from him, for god-knows-what. My bet is espionage - that cat in the picture was the original Cait Sith, built by Reeve and Hojo as a science fair project during their senior year."
Diz looked thoughtful for a second, "Though if I recall correctly, the original Cait Sith could only say 'hello', 'goodbye', and 'pig-fucker' due to an incident while Reeve and Hojo were recording sentences for its speech patterns. Something about Reno, Tseng, and an exploding Bunsen Burner, apparently."
Needless to say, all thoughts of homework and assignments were soon forgotten, and eleven people got lost in pictures and stories of times that had long since passed.