A/N: for more info on my story please head to my profile!
please review to encourage me to continue posting :) I would like to thank the few anonymous reviewers that I had for the last chapter. I try to respond to every review that I get, so if I ever get a review from a nonmember, I will thank them before the next chapter.
Chapter 4: Goody-Two-Shoes
Shinra had always been a symbol of disdain in Bee's life. The company ruled the plate, and left nothing for the people of the slums. The Turks hunted Aerith on a daily basis, and even as a child, Bee knew to fear the ones in the black suits. It was not until Bee had met Zack that Bee started to look at Shinra in a different light.
Zack represented everything a hero should be in Bee's eyes. He was strong, kind, and optimistic. He never felt that it was too annoying to stop and help a slum-dweller. Bee had often caught him escorting a child home at night after he had left Aerith to return back to the plate. He never looked down on Bee or her family. He was Bee's brother's idol.
Bee's brother, Toby, was fourteen when he first met Zack. While Bee never really saw Zack, Toby saw the SOLDIER almost as much as Aerith did. Zack had become Toby's unofficial mentor, teaching the younger boy how to swing a sword properly, how to do squats the right way, and how to take care of others. Toby looked up to Zack more than anyone else, and he took Zack's disappearance harder than almost anyone, except for Aerith.
"He's not gone!" Toby yelled at Bee, after she had told him that she felt Zack was not coming back. "How can you say that? Zack is a hero! He wouldn't leave Aerith like that!"
"I didn't say he would!" Bee argued back, hurt that her older brother had yelled at her so aggressively, "I don't think he would ever leave Aerith on purpose. But he's been gone for so long! He works for Shinra! They're bad, Toby. They probably did something to Zack because he was such a good person. They don't like good people."
"How can you say that!" Toby yelled back, seething in anger at his sister, "Look at everything SOLDIER has done! Zack is a hero! And I'm going to be just like him!"
Bee watched in horror as Toby headed for the front door, swinging it open so hard that the doorknob hit the wall behind it. "Stop!" Bee yelled, running after her brother. She grabbed hold of his sleeve and dug her heels into the ground in an attempt to stop him from leaving. "Where are you going?!"
"To Shinra," he told her, shrugging of her grasp easily and continuing out the door, "I'm going to become a SOLDIER and bring Zack back. You'll see that he's fine, and I'll become a hero just like him!"
"No! Toby! Come back!" Bee yelled desperately at her brother, but he never turned around. Bee watched helplessly as he walked out of Sector 4 and out of her life, for good.
Toby didn't return to the slums for several years. Aerith had already left Midgar by this point, and Bee had taken to staying in her bedroom at all hours of the day. She was laying in bed when she heard the front door shut, and she sat up in confusion. Her mother didn't usually come home for several more hours as she worked all day to support Bee. When Bee heard creaking on the staircase, she knew it was not her mom. Her mom never made noise coming up the stairs as she was afraid that she would bother Bee with the noise. Bee sprinted from her bed and ran to her bedroom door, prying it open as fast as she could. She yelled in surprise when she saw a tall man standing in her doorway, his fist raised as if to knock.
"Sis?" the man asked, looking down at her with raised brows.
Bee paused and looked up at the man, and recognition dawned on her face. The man standing before her was none other than Toby. Bee backed up into her bedroom, looking Toby up and down in surprise. He had gotten much taller, and much more muscular. His hair had grown longer as well, and his eyes had changed color.
"You... you made it into SOLDIER," Bee said, shocked at her visitor. His Mako tinged eyes scared her more than she thought they should have.
"That's right! Second-class, but I'm aiming to get to First-class, just like Zack," Toby said proudly, making a fist with his hands. He smiled down at his sister and motioned for her to come closer. "Come here and give your big brother a hug!"
Bee ignored his awaiting arms and backed up from him even more, causing him to frown. Instead, Bee asked, "Did you go see mom?"
Toby dropped his arms, still frowning and shook his head. "No, not yet," he told her, "I didn't want to bother her while she was at the bakery. She works so hard."
"Well, you didn't even say goodbye to her when you left, so you'd think that the first thing that you would do when you finally came to see us would be to say hi to her..." Bee growled out, her anger more apparent now. She turned away from her brother and walked back to her bed and laid down, turning on her side so that she couldn't see him.
"I will say hi," Toby told her, following her into the room. He paused at Bee's desk, taking in all the plants and phials she had. Beside the desk was a large book on basic antidotes and potions, and on a shelf above the desk were bottle upon bottles of Bee's finished products. "You're an alchemist now?"
"Yeah, I took on an apprenticeship with Mr. Hadel down the street," Bee mumbled to him, never turning back around in her bed, "You would know that if you were around more."
"Oh, come on, sis," Toby drawled, walking over to Bee's bed and sitting down beside her, "I would if I could but I have a really great chance of becoming First-class! But that means I have to train really hard everyday, I don't have time for slum visits."
"You used to live in the slums, you know," Bee informed him angrily. She finally turned onto her back, looking up at the man that her brother had become. She couldn't deny that he looked happier than he ever had in the slums. But he had left his family behind to go work for company that did horrible things. "You left us! You left me and mom and you didn't come back! You left us to chase after a stupid dream that will never come true! Zack still isn't back, Toby! Where do you think he went? The Turks were monitoring Aerith even more after that he's gone, and she was scared!They took her, Toby! You should have been here to protect her! To protect me and mom!" Bee sat up and angrily poked her brother in the chest. "Shinra is killing the planet! They will suck it dry and we will have nothing left! They don't care about us! And you're helping them! You're helping the people that took Aerith away!"
Bee went to poke Toby in the chest again, but he caught her, and squeezed her hand, cutting off her circulation. She tried to pull back, but he was stronger than her, and he refused to let go.
"You don't know anything," Toby spat back angrily, "Zack would never have worked for Shinra if he didn't believe they were doing good in the world!"
"Yes he would have!" Bee argued back, prying her finger back and rubbing it, "Everyone joins SOLDIER thinking that they are doing good, but then they see just how corrupt the company is. They do things like hunt little girls like Aerith! I bet Zack disappeared because he ran from the company!"
Toby stood, and spun angrily towards the door. "You have no idea what you're saying! You're too young to understand!" he yelled at her.
"Too young?!" Bee screamed at him, "I was forced to grow up the moment you left your family!"
The look in Toby's eyes would forever be burnt into Bee's memories. She had never been so afraid of someone her entire life. The Mako in his eyes seemed to burn with his anger, as he managed to growl out, "Maybe it was a good thing I left. Who wants a family that doesn't believe in them?" With that, he left, slamming both Bee's bedroom door and the front door. Bee watched through her bedroom window as he stomped his way out of the slums, this time for good.
Bee never told her mother that Toby had showed up that day. Instead, she continued to stay in her room, trying to pretend that the visit had never happened. It was easy to forget, as Bee never saw her brother again after that day. Like Zack, he had disappeared and his role as SOLDIER was forgotten by many. When the Shinra building had exploded, Bee assumed that her brother had been killed, along with most of the Shinra employees that had been there. She never went to look for him, like she had looked for her mother after Meteorfall. She never talked to Cloud or Tifa about him, though they knew she had had a brother at one time. Eventually, it was as though he had never existed. Bee had started a new life in Edge, one without Toby, her mother, Zack, or Aerith. She came to resent Shinra, for taking Zack away, for killing her mother, for killing Aerith, for taking her brother away. Hearing what had happened to Zack and Cloud only fueled this resentment in to full boiled hatred. She thought that she would never have to deal with anything Shinra again.
That was, until Reno had walked into that bar and sat down next to her.
The ringing of Bee's phone knocked her out of her reverie. She honestly hadn't thought about her brother in a very long time. She tried not to think about him, and how badly their relationship had become by the time she had last seen him. She remembered the times when Toby had been Aerith's and Bee's sworn protector, and he had often initiated the escapes they made from the Turks' grasps. But those times were long gone, and Bee was grateful for the phone call to distract her.
"Busy Bee's Potions and Poultices, this is Bee, how can I help you?" Bee answered, as was her customary response when she received a phone call during her shop hours. Tifa was really the only one that ever called her outside of her patients. If Yuffie needed her, she tended to just drop by the store unannounced, or slip in through the open bedroom window when the shop was closed. Otherwise, everyone else would send her a small text, letting her know they were in Edge if she wanted to see them.
"Bee," came a familiar voice on the other line. Bee raised an eyebrow in surprise. She wasn't aware that Cloud had given out her number. "This is Reeve Tuesti, I'm the president of the WRO, and a friend of Cloud's."
"I know who you are," Bee answered back, moving to sit on the stool by the register counter. It had been a slow day, Bee had only sold about four potions or so. "We've met before too, you know."
"Yes," Reeve answered back, "But I wasn't sure if you had remembered. I'm not around as often as the others."
"I know," Bee told him, "I have a good memory. Did you need something? I doubt you called to see how I was, especially if you felt the need to remind me of who you were..."
Reeve chuckled at that and Bee heard him take a deep breath before he continued, "Cloud told me that I probably shouldn't call you, but I had to at least try."
"Try what...?" Bee didn't like the sound of this. She listened for Reeve to continue as she looked out the window, tapping her fingers on the counter top. It was a nice day out, and her visits to her patients' houses would be pleasant.
"Rufus informed me that you saved his life recently," Reeve said. Bee's fingers froze and she sat up straighter on her stool.
"Yes..."
"Reno the Turk reported that you made an antidote for the poison running through Rufus in a less than an hour, something that the doctors of Wutai could not do. He expressed how easy it was for you to do, and ensures me that nobody else on the planet would have been able to it." Reeve paused here, waiting for Bee to respond in some way, and Reeve hoped it was an affirmative.
"He doesn't know what he's talking about," Bee told him quickly, not liking where the conversation was going.
"No," Reeve said sternly, "Tseng reports the same thing, though Reno's report is more detailed. Cloud informs me that you know Reno and Tseng. They assured me that they were not lying and would not recommend you over a fallacy."
"Recommend me for what?" Bee asked sharply. Her fist was clenched now, on the counter top, and for a moment, she forgot how to breath.
"I want to employ you," Reeve explained, "I want you to mass produce that antidote for my armies. A rebel group has risen in Wutai, and Lord Godo has requested help. He was impressed with how we handled the Deepground situation, and wants to form an alliance with the WRO. We need your antidote if we want to fight the rebels."
Bee had never wanted to strangle someone so badly as she wanted to strangle Reno right then. She knew healing Rufus would have consequences, she just didn't realize how deep they would be.
"I already have a responsibility to my shop, and the sick people of Edge. I'm sorry, but I can't help you." Bee basically spit the words out before hanging up, leaving no time for Reeve to protest. She ran upstairs and threw her phone into her laundry basket, burying it in the clothes so that she wouldn't hear or see it for the rest of the night.
The burying of the phone, however, turned out to not be the best idea Bee had ever had, as she hadn't thought about the fact that if Reeve couldn't get in touch with Bee through phone, someone would come in person. That person just happened to be Reno.
He sauntered into the shop the next day, his hands in his pockets, completely unabashed about entering the place where he had had a one night stand. To make matters worse, he smiled at Bee, nodding his head at her as he made his way to the register counter where Bee was ringing a customer up.
"What'd ya buy?" Reno asked the woman at the counter. She looked up at him in surprise, but answered anyway.
"An antidote for cactuar poisoning," she told Reno, taking her change from Bee.
Reno ignored the glare Bee was giving him, and nodded at the woman in an exaggerated fashion. He pointed at Bee and said, "Good choice. She makes the best antidotes on the planet, ya know." He leaned over the counter, bringing himself closer to Bee, who continued to glare at him with hate in her eyes.
The woman finally smiled at this, agreed with Reno, thanked Bee, and then left the store, her smile still on her face. Reno laughed after the door shut behind the customer and turned back to Bee. "Missed me?" he asked her smugly.
"Get. Out." Bee told him through clenched teeth. She radiated anger, but Reno didn't take the hint, and laughed again, outraging Bee even more.
"Sorry, no can do, little bug," Reno told her with a shake of his head. He pushed himself off the counter and walked around it to sit on the cot that Rufus had laid on just two days before. "Reeve sent me here. He's very determined to get your help, yo."
"I already told him no," Bee informed him, never leaving her spot behind the counter. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared Reno down, even though she knew it wouldn't bother him in the least.
"Yeah, yeah. He said that," Reno said with a shrug, "And then you didn't answer any of the other calls he made. Ya know, Rufus even tried calling you, but you ignored him too."
"Am I supposed to be flattered?" Bee questioned sarcastically. Again, Reno shrugged and Bee felt like she was going to explode from her anger.
"I would be, if I were you," Reno told her, pointing at her accusingly, "He said you still haven't taken the money out of his account."
"And I'm not going to. I ripped the paper up and threw it out. The ID too." She pointed to the trashcan behind Reno, but he ignored her. Instead, he stood and walked closer to her, forcing her to back up against the counter. He didn't stop though, even when her back hit the counter and she couldn't back up anymore. He paced both of his hands on the counter on either side of her and leaned down so that they were at eye level.
"You should have taken the money," he advised, his voice lowering an octave.
Bee had to swallow before she could speak. "I don't want any money from that man." She cursed herself for how weak her voice sounded, and then cursed Reno for the smug smile he gave her in return.
"That man is trying to create an alliance with a country that once hated us," Reno told her, "You're going to help him."
"I will never help Rufus Shinra ever again," Bee told him, her voice returning to normal. She stood up taller, catching Reno off-guard a bit, though he never backed away from her. "I only helped him because he was dying. I don't owe him anything."
"You're right!" Reno agreed with a nod of his head. Bee looked at him in shock as he continued, "You don't owe him anything, he owes you. And he owes the planet. But... you do owe Tifa and Cloud, don't you? They took you in, right?"
"What does that matter?" Bee asked in confusion. It wasn't like they were the ones making the negotiations. If anything, bringing Yuffie into the conversation made more sense, it was her country after all.
"Well, you see, your friends are going to be fighting in the battle against the Wutain rebels. You wouldn't want them to die of poison, would you?" Reno asked innocently. He grinned down at Bee again as he saw her face go from anger to horror at Reno's question. "I didn't think so. That's why you're going to help us make those antidotes."
Reno didn't expect the slap that came to the side of his face. However, he did expect the furious yelling that came from Bee. "This is all your fault!" she screamed at him, pushing him away from her, "If you hadn't walked into the bar that night, none of this would be happening! You wouldn't have known about my antidotes, you wouldn't have brought Rufus Shinra into my shop! I wouldn't be forced to do something for that evil man!" Bee's chest heaved from her anger, surprising even herself with her outburst. She watched as Reno rubbed the cheek that she had slapped, and felt the tiniest twinge of guilt inside her.
"You know you're not really mad about that," he told her nonchalantly, dropping the hand that been rubbing his face to his side, and moving forward towards Bee again. Once more, he pinned her to the counter behind her. "I asked around, and found out that you picture yourself as a goody-two-shoes, a hard worker who's whole goal in life is to help those in need. While this is admirable, really it is, it leaves room for one big imperfection."
Reno's face leveled with Bee's again and he brought it as close as her could to her without actually touching her. He smiled at her again, and watched as her gray eyes widened to an impossible size. She lost her breath and he started to speak again.
"You can't stand it when you feel as though you've done something wrong," he told her, his eyes roaming over her face, "And so you try to blame everyone but yourself, because in your head, you can never do anything wrong. Well, I've got news for you, little bug. I may have left in the morning before you woke up, but I wasn't the one to ask to come back to your place."
"What?" Bee asked in a whisper, unable to raise her voice any higher.
"That's right," Reno said with a nod, "I was actually just going to walk you home, I didn't want Cloud on my ass about you, but you were the one who asked for me to come in with you. You don't remember? Or you don't want to admit to yourself that you were the one who made the decision to sleep with me, already knowing before hand that I was a Turk, and that I would most likely leave in the morning?"
"You're lying." It was a last ditch effort, and Bee knew it. Why would Reno lie to her? He had no reason to. He probably didn't care if Bee hated him, she was nothing to him. If he had wanted to, he could have never had to see her again. He could have just sex with her and then left. Instead, she was the one who had offered, and that was why he was still coming around. He had nothing to be ashamed of, not that she really thought he would have been anyway. However, Reno would have most likely avoided seeing her again at least, dropping her completely from his life. He would have had his fun and been done with her. But now, Bee realized, this was not the case, and Reno had no reason to stay away.
"I can tell that you know I'm not," he told her, getting impossibly closer to her and smiling at the fact that he was making her squirm. "I mean, I won't deny that I didn't want it too, and no, I didn't try very hard to dissuade you. But don't go blaming me for something that you did all on your own. It takes two to do what we did, and I didn't force you to do anything. Yes, you were drunk, maybe you wouldn't have done that sober, but I always believe that people do things when they're drunk that they don't have the courage to do when sober. And weren't you the one who said you weren't a saint?"
"I didn't mean that I go around having meaningless sex with people!" Bee told him in what she tried to make an angry tone, but he was just so close to her, and she noticed how red his hair was again. How beautiful he was up close. Bee froze and watched as Reno's smile widened at her.
"See?" he asked her cockily, "You can't deny that even now, you want me."
"I don't have flings," she told him, trying to convince herself at the same time.
"I didn't say that you did," he told her with a shake of his head, "I just simply wanted to get you to stop blaming me for something that you instigated. Listen, I'm sorry you don't like the fact that we slept together. But I will not apologize and be blamed for something that I didn't do. Got it?"
"Is that why you came, then?" Bee asked him, finally finding her voice, though she couldn't tear her eyes away from his own sea-green ones. "Why didn't Tseng come?"
"Ah!" Reno exclaimed, nodding in approval, "Very good! That is why I volunteered for this meeting. Can't have you hating me while we work together, can I?" He beamed at Bee's obvious frustration, and continued when she didn't say anything, "Great! Glad you agree. Cloud and Tifa will be happy to know that they and your friends will have your protection. Reeve will call you with details, so pick up your phone this time, okay?"
Bee watched in astonishment as he pushed himself off the counter and away from her, then walked around to the front entrance. He pulled the door open and was just about the leave when he hesitated, and turned back around to Bee.
"Just so you know..." he said, his smug smile returning to his face, "I would do that night all over again if I could. You are the best damn thing I've had in Edge so far."
He left after that, shutting the door behind him and walking past the window, never turning to see that Bee had remained frozen in place, her face flushed a bright red and her heart racing in her rib cage.
A/N: I just noticed that this chapter is also pretty short. I'm really sorry, they tend to be longer as they story goes on.
I'm also very surprised nobody asked me how Bee managed to stay alive with the stigma for two years. I thought for sure somebody was going to tell me she should have died. Either way, that is addressed much later on in the story.
Thank you for reading!