Still seething over what Rufus had said about her not being a 'real Turk', Larette was beyond simply just seeing red - she was so furious, she wanted to turn back around, storm into that room like Inferit, grab that stupid little head of his and bang it all around the room, finally ending it by rendering his limbs completely useless. She wanted him so worn down that he looked like a different person, and after he lost his voice from begging for mercy, she wanted to burn his body out in the wilderness, where it would be found by the ravenous monsters before anyone else. If she could make it that far before anyone caught on to her plan, she knew the prefect place to abandon his corpse were it would never be discovered...

"#^$%, what am I thinking?!" Standing alone in the staircase that lead to either the 66th or 68th floor, the woman froze as she really considered what she was thinking. That kind of cold-blooded treatment wasn't her, not anymore... "Dad, mom... why do I still...?" Clenching her fists in frustration, the Turk threw her own body against the wall, allowing it to slide down the vertical support, not even caring that her suit - her pride and joy as a Turk - had snagged. After all of this time, why was she thinking of something like that? Trying to reassure herself that she had truly changed since that time, Larette reminded her heart that this was the first time she had thought anything so dark since Tseng and the others had shown her the light.

Any other time that might have helped to comfort her, but now it was only one more stone that was grinding itself in her core. "What is wrong with me?! Isn't it enough that I cry myself to sleep at night, that all my dreams are soiled extensions of my sins?" Looking down at her hands, partially expecting to see them irrevocably stained, the saddened sap saw that the shaking had only gotten worse. It was all that damned Rufus' fault that she was feeling this way! Too riled up to consider using one of the bottles of hyper in her pocket, the Turk slammed her fist into the ground. "Stupid jerk...!" Body reaching its limit as well, she could feel hot tears splashing down her cheeks, spilling over on to her pants, leaving little wet marks on her legs. What a mess she must have looked, crying there like a little child...

It was silent for a long time, other than the sound of her sobs on the walls, but it couldn't last forever. There were footsteps coming down the hall, and while there was time to try to hide (hoping that she chose the other stairwell), the female simply didn't have the strength for it, so the Turk just sat there, waiting to see who had left the boardroom first. It was probably going to be Rufus seeing how this day had gone, since he had been in the building all day and hadn't left yet. Just perfect: he was going to see the effect he had had on her, that all of his snide remarks had taken hold and were playing with the currently fragile state of her psyche. She was so drained, she couldn't even muster the strength to care...

But it wasn't Rufus - it was Reeve that had come. She could tell by the faint jingling of machine parts in his pocket. "Larette?! What are you doing here?!" The sympathy in his voice was almost worse than if Rufus had been the one to find her, because at least if it had been the blonde, his snide comments would have been well deserved. "Here, let me help you up off the floor."

He offered his hand, but she merely looked at it, wondering if she really was worthy of being a Turk after all. "...What's the point? I belong here on the floor with the dirt. Rufus was right - I'm just a joke! I'm just the one they let in out of pity," She thought of Tseng, of how he had recruited her for the team, of Reno and Rude taking her out drinking after her first mission. They all meant so much to her, but had it all been faked? Her mind wondered to the very first time she had met Reno, having to help him question that witness... She had been unable to do it, at first. "because I'm too pathetic to kill."

While the Vice President's words may have had some effect on her, the dark-haired executive thought that there was more behind her words, since she had never doubted her place as a Turk before, not even after the failure of her latest mission. Larette could read the thoughts expressed in his eyes, almost as if he had said them himself, but maybe after knowing him for so long, it just became easier to guess what was in his head. Changing his tactics, Reeve joined her on the floor. "Hey, the girl I know isn't a joke - she's a fighter. She sees something she wants and she goes after it, even if she fails the first few times."

She looked at him doubtfully. "She sounds like a good pretender to me."

"The girl I know isn't pretending to be strong." Reeve smiled warmly over at Larette, patting her leg above the knee in an encouraging fashion. "She is strong." He leaned over and whispered into her ear in a confidential manner, which made sense given their professions. "I have it on good authority that she can do anything she sets her mind to, even tasks that don't make sense to anyone else." Huh? She blinked at him, unsure of what he was referring to. Understanding the girl just as well as she understood him, Reeve elaborated, to a degree. "Do you remember last weekend?" Oh, that. "Anyone else would have given up, but not you. If you can endure that, then there's nothing you can't do."

Pretty words, but there was one thing she couldn't do, no matter how much she tried - she could never forgive herself for the past. "You make me sound so great - a little crazy and a lot stupid - but mostly really great. But I'm not really that great-"

"We all have our shortcomings." He nodded wisely, clearing intending to swat away any lingering doubts she had. "But I think that the vice president might be able to see through yours in a way that no one else can. Plus he's your own age."

Of course the conversation came back to Rufus! Larette had the distinct impression that he was was going to be a topic that she was going to hear a lot of these coming days, and knowing her co-workers, even a bit after he was out of her hair. Great. "The only thing I want Rufus to see on me is my back as I finish this job and write him off as a bad memory!"

Reeve chuckled. "Whatever you say." He sounded convinced that she had been about to do something to Rufus in that room that wasn't violent but that used up about the same amount of energy. In fact, she didn't now any better, Larette might have thought that he was implying that she actually wanted to...! "I think that you two would make a cute couple."

Rufus Shinra?! Had Reeve lost his mind?! Urugh, that man! Just who did he think he was anyway?! The almighty incarnate? Just because he was the son of the man that virtually ruled every last habitable corner of the planet did not mean that he deserved everyone's immediate adoration, that blue-eyed #$%^&*! "Hmph! That man makes my skin crawl!" Larette stuck her tongue out in distaste before suddenly growing serious, "Besides, you know how I feel about relationships."

Guest, good in what way? All my knowledge of Disney? My briefly mentioned theories on FF? Sorry, I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean there, and if I don't ask, it'll bug me. I know what you mean, but for me, that's more Rufus. Mmm, Rufus... Oh, is that the order it was made in? Yuffie and Cid too?! I knew that Aerith, Cloud, and Tifa made appearances, but not Cid and Yuffie! I knew that Vincent should have, but instead they used Cloud. That was one of the Kingdom Hearts games, right? Or another...? I dunno, I'm super selective over the games I play. The original Alice scares me, well technically the Cheshire Cat, but the rest of the animation isn't far behind... As for Johnny, that's a complicated matter for me. Yeah, I gathered that you were, from everything you knew about it. That's cool - peeps can love what they love, so long as they don't needlessly bash what I love. My love for it is just a memory now, since pretty much the last time I watched it was when it was running on Toonami. In show form, my love of pokemon ended a long time ago, and in the games, I stopped with the third gen (Torchic is a good place to end, I think), but besides from National Treasure, which I haven't really seen, I have to say that you have some pretty good tastes. Cardcaptors is more of a memory like Sailor Moon, but one I can recall a bit better, and my patience for Pirates... Well, to put it simply, I love the first and like the next two, but for me, it should have ended there. They could have gone in some interesting directions, but I don't that they did for some reason. I hope you don't find my words harsh - its just my own opinion, and I completely respect that they differ. But when you mean the WB and its characters, do you mean like new shows like Adventure Time, old ones like he Loony Toons, or dubs that they did, like Yugioh? If you don't feel comfortable saying it, it's fine. ^^ Oh, the Fifth Element! That's the action movie of my childhood right there! For weather/disaster flicks, that's a good one! Yeah, I've only seen one Godzilla movie, and I really can't remember it... Journey was a good movie, and I liked the sequel as well. The Mummy will live on in my heart for all eternity! Myself, I really love cartoons, weather they be Disney or aimed at older audiences, such as South Park, Archer, and Metalocalpyse. I also really love comedies and horror, Blades of Glory being one of my favorite comedies and the Hellraiser movies for horror. It's kinda ironic that I love horror though... Umm, for what I don't like... I dunno, there's plenty, but I don't know how to sum it up... I really love comics and super heroes too. Hey, it's fine to go off topic, so no sweat, alright?! And thank you. I'm glad that you're liking this so far!

Yeah! I am on a roll today! Whoot, two-for-two!

Stuff just got really intense, didn't it? But Reeve, is he trying to play match-maker in addition to future cat-robo-fortuneteller? I wonder... So is it just me, or can anyone else imagine that Reeve would carry around spare parts? Just me then. Ok.

Please review.

I do not own FFvii or any of its characters. I do own Larette. And Carriyon. Oops, Tano too!