Hello, again, and thank you for your wonderful reviews! They have been very motivating for me to go on, so here comes the fourth chapter, introducing the fourth protagonist.
Chapter 4: Wherein Elena receives a new assignement
Elena was carrying heavily. She had picked up too much and she wasn't sure she would get it to the helicopter before it slipped her hands, so she stumbled on as fast as she could.
They were moving and again, it was like an evacuation. Everything had to fit into that one helicopter. She stumbled down the corridor over the wooden floor, the paper was slipping her hands and she cursed inwardly. If the paper fell, she would draw attention again to herself, attention she was so eager not to receive. Well, Reno or Rude she didn't mind. Reno would just joke and Rude would say nothing. But Tseng or, Gaia forbid, the boss himself… she couldn't bear to think of it!
She was afraid of Rufus, could see the short darting of his mouth when she turned her back. She had been a rooky, still, when meteor came. She had tried so hard to proof herself, but the moment they seemed to be ready to acknowledge her, Kadaj had come. And since then… she knew well enough that since then, she had been only short of failing completely. It was just a sound, just a ray of light, just a word that could send her back, spinning, unable to move. Rufus didn't like damaged goods. If he ever found out – he wouldn't keep her. Not even now!
And she was sure he was loosing patience. Otherwise, he wouldn't have given her the assignment to look into Dr. Eliot's data while Reno and Rude and Tseng were taking care of their new place of living. It had been a warning. What happened if she couldn't meet his standards, she didn't even want to know. But she couldn't even imagine loosing her job as a Turk. It would kill her, not to be with the Turks anymore. Not to be with Tseng anymore.
Of Tseng, she was even more afraid than of Rufus. Tseng bore up sp well. He had never shown any sign of weakness. Ever since they had returned from Kadaj, he had been back to his duties without battering an eyelid. And there she was, shrinking away from going outside, nearly falling asleep at her desk because of all the nights she couldn't sleep. Snapping into panic at harmless things… it was so pathetic!
And Tseng must surely feel it! After all he had done for her, after all the support and motivation he had given her, she allowed herself to snap up and was really useless.
Tseng was barely looking at her these days, he never showed her any benevolence, seemed totally cold now. How he had to hate her! She couldn't bear him disapproving of her! Not him, not the man she looked up to – loved, for the love of Gaia! She loved him even more fiercely after all he had done for her, how he had borne up and…
Suddenly, the door she had struggled with to open, hit against her. Her hand slipped and the files spilled onto the floor. When she looked around the havoc she had caused, disgusted nearly to tears by her clumsiness, she noticed the pair of legs rising from the debris and her eyes ended up in the stern face of her superior, only half a metre away. Her heart jumped to her throat and her stomach fell beyond her feet. She was on her knees in the same moment.
"I… I'm sorry, Senpai!", she stammered, had to fight against uprising tears as she started to collect the paper.
"I am apologizing. I hit you with the door, after all." His voice was cold, but there was a note of kindness in it that nearly chocked the breath in her throat. But in the same moment, Tseng was down, too, also picking the files up and Elena felt her heart racing as he handed some to her and picked the rest up. Gaia! This was too good to be true!
In the next moment, she caught Tseng's eyes as she got up and felt her heart stop. He was looking at her, directly at her! His eyes were of such a beautiful black! And now, he got up, too, but he didn't hand her the files he was still holding, but held the door. "You shouldn't carry so much."
"Y… Yes, Tseng-san!" She felt the blood draining from her face to shoot up again in the next moment.
Tseng followed through the door and she could feel him walking so close by, eyes on her and she nearly couldn't breathe anymore.
"Everything alright, Elena?" The question made her jump.
"Y – Yes, absolutely, thank you, Senpai!" she managed to stammer at last. "I'm… I'm just clumsy, that's all, Sir!" She tried to smile, tried to avoid his eyes and in the same moment, it caught her cold that perhaps, Tseng hadn't asked after her but if there was something in her work that was bothering her.
In the last moment, in her frozen brain, she caught a thought that had been haunting her for days. "That is… I mean… I read something strange."
"Yes?" Did he sound strained? Please, don't!
"Do you remember when Shachou said that – that he was loosing eyesight be-because his eye was turning colourless?" She didn't wait for Tseng's indicated nod to go on. "Well, I… I… uhm… fact is … uhm, its not cause by albinism. I mean, it is, but not in that way, you see? Uhm – when a child is born with albinism, the eyes won't develop properly because they need melanin. It's… it's not, like, his eye should be fully developed, so, uhm… it shouldn't worsen, you see? At least not much." She looked at Tseng and her heart skipped a beat and skipped another one when she saw him frowning. "It's not – I'm not saying Ru- Shachou got something wrong…" She clasped her hand in front of her mouth. It had been far too quick again. Now, she hadn't only accused the boss of lying, but she had also doubted his wits.
Tseng gave her a stern look. Perhaps not stern, maybe. His eyes – those wonderfully dark eyes – were smiling and his mouth was just a little curled up. "Don't tell him you know he's lying to us."
"Yes... yes, Senpai!" They walked the last few metres to the helicopter in silence. Reno was taking the files from both of them.
"Are those the last?" Reno asked, winking at Elena and Elena felt her heart stop – Reno knew about her crush on Tseng! Gaia! If only he didn't say anything!
"About, yes", she answered.
Tseng gave nothing but a nod, but when she turned back to the building, muttering a short 'thank you, Sir', Tseng had already turned back to her again.
"How far is your report?"
Elena needed a moment to figure that he meant the report on the new geostigma. "About finished, Sir…"
Tseng nodded. "I'll talk to Rufus. I'd like you to give us an overview as soon as possible."
"Yes… yes, Sir!", she stammered, for what else was there to say?
****
Edge was engulfed in snowfall. The leaden sky above had casted off snow since the early morning now. It swirled around the building, covered the streets and the ruins of Midgar equally. A cold wind was blowing, but inside the building, it was warm.
Elena was standing at the table in the conference room which was mainly empty now. Rufus and Tseng were sitting opposite to Reno and Rude, howsoever they had managed to worm into this meeting.
Elena was nervous. Not very nervous, it was just a presentation, after all, but there was also Rufus listening. And Tseng.
"First at all", she started, "I think it's important to say that this doesn't really seem to be a new illness. Or… or an illness at all. Dr. Eliot supposes that it's a reaction of the body to the damages geostigma caused. It shows in the same spots as geostigma used to appear and analyses of the tissue have suggested that the cells just aren't capable of producing or keeping melanin." She looked around herself. Rufus had sat back in his chair; there was a frown on his face. Tseng, next to him, looked as stoic as ever but if Elena wasn't quite mistaking, he was relieved and it made her heart beat faster.
"So, um… It seems that this, well, phenomenon strikes only rarely – it's less than 0.1 percent of those who had been infected with geostigma, even if we allow an enormous number of unreported cases. Also, it seems to strike only those who were around the final stage. For most, that's as far as it goes, but – hm – it seems in some cases, after the spots have appeared, symptoms like sudden sickness, lack of appetite, sometimes cramps and fever appear, too." She looked uneasily around her. Rufus' frown had deepened, his entire body stiffened as if he was about to get up. Tseng was frowning a little now, too. He seemed to be considering Rufus rather than her. None of both faces displayed a really impression, though, and Elena felt anxiousness rising. Hopefully, she hadn't said anything wrong! "But", she tried to smile and directed her eyes to Rufus, continued as quickly as possible, "in all cases reported, it seems to effect only children who were about to die – only had a few days left. – So, there's no need to worry for you, Shachou."
Rufus, at that, was strangely smirking, slightly only and Tseng's frown had smooth away a little, though his eyes were clearly on Rufus now. Somehow, this gave Elena a pang of disappointment. Reno was folding figures from paper and Rude looking who-knew-where through his glasses. Though, she was actually sure he was listening. "So far, in all Edge and the surrounding, there are only ten reported cases, but they've been under observation for a while and there's no hint that it's fatal. All of them have recovered remarkably well."
She stopped. There was also no way to treat it, if you didn't want to use make up, that was. But she didn't dare to utter that.
"Thank you, Elena, that was very informing." Rufus was slowly rising. He didn't like the topic, so much was obvious and Elena hoped she hadn't said anything wrong. He had been rather difficult with geostigma. "Please hand in a full report, will you?" He only uttered this over his shoulder, was already on his way out.
Reno and Rude had jumped up and were following Rufus outside now. So, there wouldn't be any discussion. Well, she hoped she could discuss it with Reno and Rude later on. She packed her papers, was relieved that the meeting was over and that she hadn't blundered totally. Rufus had seemed, well, at least not dissatisfied. Her heart, though, was still hammering.
"That was a good job, Elena." At Tseng's voice, she nearly jumped.
"Th… Thank you, Sir!"
Tseng fell silent again and Elena felt his eyes upon her. But when she looked up, the room was empty.
Thank you very much for reading! The next chapter will be about Reeve again, but Tifa is going to make her first appearance: Chapter 5: Wherein Reeve talks too much
Please review, if you like ;-)
