--Fallen Angels & Lost SOLDIERs, Chapter 7: Conversations & Revelations--
Reno and Rude sat in the kitchen of Sayuri's living quarters, companionably drinking their coffee in silence in the early hours of the morning: it was going on nine and Adanna had somehow won over Reeve, gaining the privilege of sitting in the WRO Commissioner's office while he worked. Vincent had not yet emerged from the spare bedroom he had taken over and Sayuri was so deeply asleep that Reno had finally given up when everything short of slapping her or dunking her in an ice-cold bath failed to wake the ex-SOLDIER turned Turk. Rude had assured him that Sayuri would get up when she was ready and that he needn't worry about her; Reno knew he was right, but for some reason he was still a bit concerned about Sayuri…and he didn't know why, which vexed him. Glaring into his black coffee, Reno twitched slightly when he heard the sounds of someone emerging from their bedroom but was disappointed when Vincent entered the kitchen. The unusual ex-Turk was dressed as he always was and habitually quiet when he calmly made himself some coffee and took a seat.
"Yo, I'm gonna go check on her." Reno said as he rose from the table, heading for his and Sayuri's room. Rude nodded that he had heard him while Vincent made no indication that he had or even cared that Reno was leaving: apparently, he was not the best of morning people. Hell, Reno was only up because Adanna had come in wanting breakfast and Sayuri didn't so much as budge at her daughter's proddings and pullings. So, Reno had dragged his lazy ass out of bed to make the girl some breakfast: Adanna had been thrilled when Reno produced chocolate chip pancakes and bacon with milk and orange juice. It was not that Reno didn't know how to cook…rather it was that he preferred not to let others know that he knew how. The reason for this was simple: if people knew what you were truly capable of, then they expected no less from you. Reno didn't like it when people ordered him to do things he didn't want to do, so he avoided the situations by acting like he didn't know how to do those things.
Sighing and then yawning a bit, Reno slipped into the bedroom and snuck over to the bed. Sayuri still appeared to be asleep, but now she was trembling and as he got closer, she cried out and promptly tossed so forcefully that she fell right out of bed. Reno instantly knelt down to help, hiding a slight snicker, and stopped when he saw the terrified look in Sayuri's eyes. He reached out to touch her cheek and she violently pulled away with a distressed sound similar to 'don't'. Without thinking of the consequences to his person, Reno gently but firmly pulled Sayuri into an embrace. Her entire body tensed and she fought to get free, but she slowly began to calm down after a few minutes. Soon, she had calmed down completely and went still in his arms as she leaned against his chest and shoulder. He continued to hold her, gently rocking back and forth, as she began to silently cry. After ten minutes or so, he heard her whisper that she was sorry.
"Nah, its all good, babe… You just had a nightmare or something. And that ain't nothing to be ashamed of, yo." Reno smiled as she looked up at him, surprise etched on her fine features and mirrored in her liquid green eyes. She was no longer crying, but a few stray tears still slipped down her cheeks and Reno smiled as he rubbed them away with his thumbs. "You've probably seen more fucked up shit than all of us Turks combined. If that ain't cause for nightmares then I'd hate to think what kinda shit is. Now c'mon, I made breakfast."
"You…as in Reno of the Turks…you made breakfast and it's edible? This is something I have to see." Sayuri joked, weakly smiling as she teased her lover about the fact that whenever he cooked for the Turks, he purposely burnt it or messed it up to avoid having to do it. Finally, they had stopped asking and Cissnei had been given the job along with Sayuri herself and now Rude did most of the cooking when necessary. As they entered the kitchen, Reno immediately began to make her a plate while she sat at the table between Vincent and Rude. She was completely at ease, despite being clothed in naught but a pair of boy shorts and one of Reno's shirts in the presence of Vincent. Said man raised an eyebrow but said nothing, choosing to keep his thoughts to himself when it came to her choice of attire. Reno chuckled when, as soon as he set her plate in front of her, Sayuri was all but inhaling it: she was an excellent cook herself, but for some reason she loved Reno's cooking more than her own. When everyone had finished eating or drinking their first and second -third in the case of Rude and fourth for Reno- cups of coffee, Sayuri turned to Vincent.
"I suppose you want to hear the rest of what I know about Genesis." Vincent nodded and Sayuri shook her head in mild amusement and exasperation. "Very well, where was I?"
"I think you were telling him about how Genesis was injured and began to degenerate." Reno supplied helpfully as he and Rude rose to go into the living room. "We'll be back in a bit; have to go find Tseng and find out when we leave on that ridiculous mission." Sayuri nodded and smiled as the two Turks left before turning her whole attention to telling Vincent the rest of the information she had about Genesis.
"Yes, I remember now. I was saying how Genesis needed a blood transfusion and neither Sephiroth nor I could provide it for explicit reasons. Well, in the end Angeal gave his blood to Genesis but the degeneration didn't cease and Dr. Hollander took over the 'research' to try and reverse it or at least stop it from progressing. Genesis was not even thirty, but soon his hair began to turn silver like Sephiroth's where it had always been a beautiful shade of auburn. I watched him degenerate and I was filled with grief, because I counted him as a friend and a comrade. After some time, Genesis was sent to Wutai and went missing. Angeal, Sephiroth, Zack, and I were also sent in pairs: Angeal with Zack and I with Sephiroth. Angeal and Zack were told that Genesis was suspected of having turned against Shinra, which was not entirely untrue. All of us were told to either capture him or kill him if he could not be captured. Somewhere along the way, all of us got separated from each other and, though I was technically listed as 'inactive', I ended up running smack into Genesis. While the others were completing the mission of taking over the Wutai fortress, I was fighting with Genesis and it was then that he revealed a very important fact that he'd learned about me. He told me that Hojo had implanted a part of Jenova's heart into my chest, right beside and connected to my own, along with the Alpha WEAPON." Vincent's eyes snapped to meet her own and she could easily read his thoughts given his expression.
"Oh, yes…as long as I am living and possess that piece of Jenova, then Sephiroth can also return through another remnant like Kadaj. I did my research: I threatened it out of Rufus, really, but that is still research in my book. I'm willing to bet that Hojo is still around somewhere, since he came back through Weiss once already. Hollander had a machine that could create near-precise copies of Genesis as well as mutated ones. He also made some copies of Angeal, though never like the ones he made of Genesis. Those ones were mistaken for the real Genesis several times, because they looked and fought exactly like him. There was one crucial difference though: none of the copies ever spoke so much as a single word while Genesis was always quoting "Loveless". That was the trick that those of us who knew him used to tell the copies from the original. Soon, Genesis fell in with Hollander and the two were listed as 'KIA'. Little did any of us know that Lazard, the Director of SOLDIER, was also in on it."
"Hollander…I have heard that name before." Vincent said quietly.
"Oh, I'm sure you have. He worked on Project G, short for "Gillian" with Dr. Gillian Hewley, Angeal's mother, as the main test subject: the project later produced Angeal and Genesis. Hojo often thought him to be a mere second rate scientist and Hollander was always angry that Hojo beat him for the position as Head of the Jenova Project. I was listed as Project S-1 or Project A, but I was not originally intended to be a project at all: I found my mother's files on me and on you in her lab in Gongaga. Neither of us were meant to be experiments, but that was the only way she could keep Hojo from interfering. Somehow, he still managed to do that anyway…I despise that man from the very core of my whole being. But let us get back to Genesis. Well, after time Angeal began to think Genesis was right and he defected from SOLDIER as well, leaving Sephiroth and Zack as the only active 1st Class operatives while I was forbidden from field work. I was taking a turn as Hojo's guinea pig and I was not pleased about it: at that time, Sephiroth and I were not aware of the blood connection we shared through mother. I knew Dr. Lucrecia Crescent was my mother but everyone was told that Sephiroth's mother was Jenova. Hojo never bothered to inform either of us that we were half-siblings; indeed, he did not seem fazed by that fact himself."
"What do you mean, Sayuri? I can understand that no one knew you were related, but what has that got to do with Hojo experimenting on you?" Vincent asked, dreading the answer he suspected he'd get.
"It has everything to do with it, unfortunately." She closed her eyes and ran a hand back through her hair, which she had recently cut so that it fell just above her thighs. She was not certain that she wanted to tell these things to Vincent, not when she had yet to tell Reno, but her sharp analytical mind told her that she had better tell Vincent before she told anyone else. The reasoning behind this was simply: of everyone she intended to tell, he was by far the most level-headed and least likely to become entirely enraged by the information. "What many have failed to understand is this: I was raised to be SOLDIER…raised by Hojo and Verdot. Hell, Tseng has known me since he joined the Turks, as has Rude. I was raised alongside Cissnei and as I got older I was separated even from the Turks and given a highly specific education in assassination and warfare. I was taught about weaponry and materia: how to use them, load them, take them apart, clean them, and put them back together. I mean guns, knives, swords, projectiles, bombs, chemical and biological weapons…pretty much you name it and they instructed me on it. I was molded into a perfect SOLDIER, with the added bonus of turning into more and more of a beauty the more I matured."
"By the time I was eight, I looked sixteen and had mastered every kind of weapon at Shinra's disposal and I had also been trained on how to use my 'feminine' abilities to my advantage. I was put to work as a SOLDIER 2nd Class and shipped out to inspect the reactors with two Turks as my…'escorts' was what Hojo called them, I believe. On my sixteenth birthday, I was made SOLDIER 1st Class and given a solo mission to assassinate a man leading an attack on one of the Reactors. I killed him and though I did it with such proficiency that terrified the Turks accompanying me, I have never forgotten the man's scream as I crushed his skull with my bare hands. I had become precisely what Hojo wanted of me: a monster. I was Alpha through and through, with no real compassion for others unless it was beneficial to my purpose or to my mission. At first, I did not question this lack of self-control and self- will: I could kill people and that was all I seemed to want to do, so I was content. However, I began to wonder why it was that only I was this way: none of the other Firsts acted in such fashions, so why did I behave so?"
"You began to question yourself and then the man who raised you… And what did Hojo tell you?" Vincent asked, now completely absorbed in learning about the way his daughter had been raised and treated throughout her life.
"At first, he told me that it was nothing to be concerned about; that I was unique and as such, the rules did not really apply to me just as they didn't really apply to Sephiroth. I let it go for a month or so and asked again…this time he told me not to be so nosy and to behave like a good specimen should. When he called me his specimen...that was when it struck a nerve and I became truly aware of the fact that I had two minds: one was Alpha, the weapon he had infused into my body and the other was, of course, my own consciousness. I did not yet know of his treachery, that he had implanted me with a piece of Jenova's heart and Alpha 'WEAPON' as he mistakenly identified it. Alpha is not a weapon like Omega WEAPON or Ultima WEAPON, but rather it is a gene like the Chaos gene that you carried. You realize that Chaos never really left you…don't you? Chaos is still there inside you, but it is now completely under your control and the restriction of the protomateria. I have come to be able to vastly limit the times when Alpha is loose, but Alpha could still get free and cause a severe amount of damage to the Planet and to those I care for. That was why I gave Adanna to a friend and sealed myself away: I can feel Alpha growing more and more restless. I fear that we will be seeing Alpha before much longer…and I fear, more than that, that a few pieces of the past will be making reappearances to cause mayhem again."
"You mean Genesis?" Vincent was now a bit confused…'pieces of the past'?
"Yes, Genesis and most likely Sephiroth as well…also, others who are not so unwelcome."
--Later that day, early evening at Sayuri's--
Sayuri was tapping her fingernails on the counter in irritation as Rufus argued with Reeve: Rufus wanted Sayuri to go and search for the child he was "rumored" to have in Wutai with the Turks. Problem was that not only had Reno refused to go point blank, saying it was a total waste of time, but Sayuri didn't even give Rufus time to open his mouth before telling him off and to get the fuck out.
"She doesn't want to go, Rufus! You CANNOT force Sayuri to go to Wutai now that Shinra is in ruins! She doesn't work for you, she works for the WRO!" Reeve reasoned with the young President of the fallen Shinra Electric Power Company, trying in vain to assuage the throb of his head by rubbing one temple. Luckily, Vincent had taken Adanna about an hour ago and gone to meet Cloud and the others who were being outfitted with rooms a few floors up: he had reasoned that Marlene would like to have another girl to play with and Denzel would enjoy playing with the two of them as well. Sure enough, the three kids had instantly bonded and began to pretend to fight 'monsters': the unlucky 'monsters' were Cid, Barret, and Yuffie. Now, Sayuri was barely containing her anger with Rufus as he persisted in his argument.
"That may be so, Reeve, but I am also the main sponsor for the WRO and as such I am technically still her boss because I essentially provide her paycheck! And as her financial employer, I want her to go to Wutai and find this child!" As Rufus shouted, Sayuri's patience with him snapped.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Sayuri literally snarled, silencing the two instantly. Both men flinched away from her golden-green glare and had to fight the urge to recoil as she took a few steps towards them. "The both of you are on my very last nerve right now, so I suggest that you be quiet and PAY ATTENTION!" Rufus and Reeve nodded empathically to show that they were indeed doing just that, even if it was out of fear that she'd snap their necks. "First off: Reeve, Rufus does have a point. He does provide the vast majority of the WRO's funding. However, I work for no man; I am working for the WRO and for the benefit of the Planet which just happens to put me under the two of you blockheads. Secondly, Reno wasn't kidding when he said that any of us going to Wutai is an utter waste of time: there will be no child of yours there Rufus. I have a hunch that I know who started this rumor and I intend to deal with this person very severely."
"But Sayuri-!" Rufus and Reeve both turned to look at her with incredulous and nervous looks as they protested.
"No 'buts', gentlemen. I know that this rumor has at least a grain of truth to it and so I already investigated it for you. However, there is no need to go to Wutai or to even leave this building if you seriously want the truth. I will tell you but only in a private conversation, just you and I." Sayuri sighed: she could not believe that she was already having to tell Rufus that Adanna was his daughter and he had never even seen the girl. It seemed that the two men could sense the danger they risked if they disagreed and Reeve quickly complied with Sayuri's wishes by fleeing from the woman's quarters. This left Sayuri alone with Rufus, who seemed to gain confidence as she sank onto the couch with a defeated sigh.
"So…what is the truth, Sayuri? I assume that this has, at least in some part, something to do with you directly." Sayuri shot him an annoyed and threatening look for voicing his 'assumption'. "Now, now…let me explain. I assume that because you insisted on my being the only one to hear it. That generally means that you had something to do with it and want as few people as possible to know or it is something that you would rather not divulge at all."
"Yes, well… As I suspected, she inherited your shrewd intellect along with your eyes and hair. But some of her intelligence can be attributed to her mother also, so I'd say you're square on the genetic side of the argument." Sayuri mused, half talking to herself and smiling as she remembered how tiny Adanna had been when she was born as opposed to the rambunctious seven year old that she was now. "As for the aspect of being a responsible parent…well her mother failed on that one up until a couple months ago. Her mother gave birth to her in Kalm and left her in the care of a recently married couple, both former Shinra employees: Quinton and Leila Foxis."
"'She'? I have a daughter then?" Sayuri nodded and she saw some sort of emotion, probably male pride but possibly something more, flash across Rufus's face and settle in his fathomless blue eyes that Adanna shared with her biological father. "How do you know so much about her when everyone else knows so little, Sayuri?"
"Leila was a very dear friend of mine…when I asked, she answered. That is all you need to know for the present. Or would you prefer that I stop telling you about your child that, until a moment ago, you did not know was even real, much less a girl?" Rufus held up his hands in mock defeat.
"No, by all means, please…continue. Forgive me for I have been remiss! Here you are telling me about my child, free of charge when you technically have no obligation to share any of your knowledge with me unless you want to, and I am questioning your kindness and your sources." Rufus said with all due respect but with a small dose of his typical sarcastic and superiority-complex mindset. Sayuri raised one of her finely arched eyebrows in critical evaluation of the slightly taller blond.
"Don't be crass with me, brat, or I swear I will deck the fucking shit out of you." Sayuri spoke with a conviction that guaranteed that her words were far from an empty threat. Rufus gave her a smug grin and she raised a hand threateningly, effectively subduing him into a restrained attitude of attentive respect despite the occasional slipping of a small smirk. Giving him a disapproving and sour scowl, Sayuri resumed her account of Adanna. "Now, as I was saying; she was entrusted to the Foxis couple who did exactly as her mother asked them. They vanished and took your daughter with them. In fact, three days after the girl's birth, they moved to Rocket Town for three months and from there, to Wutai where they still reside."
"So she is in Wutai…but why then would it be pointless to go there?" Rufus demanded, cutting Sayuri off and earning a smack on the head. "What was that for?!"
"I wasn't finished. Now shut up and sit still!" Sayuri hissed while Rufus attempted make himself look pitifully hurt: unfortunately for him, this did nothing but to earn him a fiercer scowl and a low growl of distaste. "As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted, you impertinent brat…" Rufus chuckled and earned a solid death glare as a reward while Sayuri continued. "Leila and Quinton still reside in Wutai with their six year old twins sons. However, your daughter was picked up from their residence, with a little aid from various unnamed sources, by her mother a little over two months ago. She has been living with her mother and her mother's lover, whom she sees as her father, since then." Rufus made to ask yet another stupid question but Sayuri sucked in a long and deep breath, bracing herself for the final and hardest of revelations: she was rescued from the task, however, by a small blond blur hurtling into her lap.
"Mommy, mommy! I got to wear Uncle Rude's glasses! And GUESS WHAT!" Adanna, always irrepressible when it came to her mother, was chattering a mile a minute and didn't even notice Rufus. He, however, could not take his eyes from this feminine-child version of himself: long blond waves, a trait she'd gotten from Sayuri, fell down to her waist and huge liquid blue eyes gazed lovingly up at Sayuri, just as deep and fathomless as his own. Truly, this must be the daughter Sayuri had told him of and judging from the cries of 'mommy' directed at Sayuri, she was the girl's mother. Quite suddenly, everything made sense to Rufus: why Sayuri had gone missing, why she had treated him so cruelly since her return, and the more recent total avoidance of anyone that might have tattled.
"What darling?" Sayuri asked as Adanna easily scooted herself onto her mother's lap. The small sunbeam that was Adanna instantly began recounting a tall tale of how she, Marlene, and Denzel had 'slain' Cid, Barret, and Yuffie and saved Tifa from the 'monsters' the trio were acting as. Sayuri smiled and when she heard a light chuckle from the doorway, she looked up and smiled at Reno, who was idly leaning on the doorframe.
"-and then Daddy had to rescue me from Denzel, who got bit and turned into a monster by Yuffie! But he didn't hurt Denzel…that was okay, right?"
"Yes, sweetheart: Daddy was right to save you but not hurt Denzel. Now, what do you want for dinner?" Sayuri asked as she easily stood, lifting Adanna to rest on her hip as she did so. It was at this juncture that the seven year old noticed the still staring and silent Rufus.
"Mommy, who is that funny man? He's pretty!" Both Reno and Sayuri had to hide their snickers at Adanna's outburst and description of her biological father as 'pretty'.
"That…" Reno said as he took Adanna from Sayuri with an ease that had developed with surprising speed over the past two months. "Is Daddy's boss. He's Rufus Shinra, the President of the Shinra Electric Power Company."
"Oooh…hi Mister Rufus!" Adanna smiled happily as she clung to Reno's neck and nuzzled her nose against his cheek with a giggle. Then she returned her attention to her mother. "Mommy, can we have pancakes?"
"Why pancakes?" Sayuri asked slyly, knowing that the reason was because Adanna wanted to help Reno make the much desired breakfast food. She smiled when her only child confirmed her guess and sighed, caving in under the two pairs of blue puppy-dog eyes that she was pinned with. "Alright, you and Daddy can make pancakes…but you have to be careful and try not to make a mess! We're going to have company for dinner tonight and Mommy will probably have to make something else for the others, okay?" Reno and Adanna both grinned and said that they'd behave before fleeing to the kitchen. "I suppose, given your expression and stunned silence, that you've figured it all out by now, haven't you?" Sayuri asked as she turned back to Rufus.
"She's your daughter…our daughter! When did…?" Rufus allowed the complete and total shock to sink in as the realization hit him. "That night at the bar in Midgar…the bet we made: was that when…?" Sayuri nodded and Rufus swallowed hard as he remembered the simple fact that Sayuri had been extremely drunk -and drugged- that night. The simple reality was that if one were to apply technical terms and rules to the event, he had date-raped her and gotten her pregnant then acted like she was something to be used and discarded. After that night, he had cut himself off from her to avoid any possible repercussions, not knowing that there had already been a serious one in the form of Sayuri carrying his then unborn-child. "Sayuri…I didn't…"
"Relax and forget about it, Rufus. I won't ban you from her…but I haven't told her yet and I'm not sure I even know what to tell her. But for now, she is convinced that Reno is her father. When she gets older, I will tell her the truth. Until then we'll just have to improvise I suppose. So for now, you will be Daddy's boss, nice Mister Rufus! Although I dare say she'll end up calling you Uncle Rufus before the night is out. After all, you're staying for dinner so that you can get to interact with her a bit."