Tseng's Interlude
Origonally Published 11.28.2005
author's notes at the end.
DISCLAIMER: i dont own tseng, sephiroth, aeris, cloud, reeve or cait sith. or rude, reno, elena or the temple of the ancients.
I expected it to hurt.
When Sephiroth entered the Temple after I'd sent Elena away, I knew I was going to die, but I didn't expect the swift painlessness he gave me. I had expected him to play with me a bit, like a cat who's caught a very small mouse, but he didn't.
I got off two shots before he was on me. I got off a third as his sword sliced through my stomach and into my spine. After that, my gun slid from my nerveless fingers as my body went into shock. He threw me against the wall like a piece of refuse as he removed his sword from my body, and there I stayed.
Unable to move my legs because he'd severed my spine. Unable to move my hands because of the shock. Unable to call Elena back because I couldn't force my brain to work well enough to come up with that idea.
I had always thought my death would be more brutal—more appropriate for a glorified corporate assassin. Something more like the SOLDIER Zack got outside Midgar. I had always expected it to be painful.
I'm oddly grateful that Sephiroth gave me that small mercy. That my death didn't hurt.
I also expected it to be lonely. I've always believed that I would die alone.
But, with that sense of impeccable timing they have, Cloud and Aeris have also arrived at the Temple of the Ancients. And that stupid robot of Reeve's.
I told them he was here, I think. That it was Sephiroth that did this to me. But I can't remember.
But I'm comforted by her hand in mine, her green eyes showing nothing but love for me, even after all I've put her through. So sweet…
I can't find the breath now to tell her. It's slipping away, and I can almost feel it.
Too bad that I never got to have that dinner with Elena. That I never got to tell her what I thought of her. That I never managed to get Reno to straighten up. That Rude and I never had that drink we always said we would.
But at least…there's no…pain…
ORIGONAL AUTHOR'S NOTE:
finally came up with this one. after months of scrapped starts and half finishes that i hated. i was trying the wrong angle of approch apparantly. trying to make him talk instead of waiting patiently for Tseng to say something to me like everyone else has. and please don't be angry at the subject matter--i don't decide when or where the interlude will happen; it just does.
and i cried as i wrote this. and yes, kids, i know about advent children before any of you review and say, "but in advent children, censored for people not wanting spoilers"
eerian