Fallout

Three days had passed since Doriss had dropped by with the trick letter, days Auryn had largely spent quietly with Tseng as various Guards visited with him. Later in the day on that first day, Doriss had also managed to return to leave the promised weapon with him. However, on the morning of the third day, Auryn was startled awake by a loud 'bang' from Kariya's apartment, followed by raised voices—not quite loud enough for him to make out the words, but loud enough to know this was no minor dispute.

He flinched and curled up into a tight ball under the covers, waiting for it to either end, or—as frequently was the case—someone to target him. Then, he had the sudden thought to bolt before they could turn on him, so pushed himself up (rather jerkily as he had to try to force his body into motion) and headed for the main room so he could reach the balcony. Climbing was always an option. Before he got further than the doorway to the room, the door to Kariya's room opened and the man stepped through, shaking his head in something like amazement.

In the few moments the door was open before he closed it behind himself, Auryn heard Vincent saying, "—causing trouble! This isn't something you can—" Again, the words were muffled and he had no idea what was happening out there.

"I can't believe those two," Kariya sighed, shaking his head. "Looks like we're just snacking here until they're done." He eyed Auryn, frozen as he was in the doorway to his room, for a minute before asking, "Do I need to interrupt them to call the Doctor?"

The blond's eyes widened in surprise before he asked, "What's going on?" His voice was faint, but at least it was working.

"I'm not clear on the details, but apparently Tseng handed something to Vincent he didn't like—from before you two even left on your little trip—but he hadn't had time to actively check it before last night. It didn't help that Vincent apparently got no sleep over the last two nights and is expected back on guard duty shortly. I don't think a shouting match like that is going to do them any good, though, but trying to stop Vincent on a rampage is kinda like trying to calm an angry Behemoth. Rather than listen to them lit into each other, I thought this was the better option," Kariya explained.

"...Does this happen a lot?" Auryn asked tentatively, forcing his fingers to release the door jamb, which he'd been clutching in a death grip before then.

The older man paused, then blinked and shook his head slowly, gaze moving towards the bedroom window absently. "Come to think of it, no. I think I can only think of two other times it happened. One of them was a Hound who had been terrorizing the new Rookie Guards; the other was a Guard who suddenly thought it was okay to—take liberties—with a new Trainee who hadn't chosen a side yet. Needless to say, the result wasn't pretty, in either case. I've never seen him lose his temper like that before with anyone, and Tseng normally gets more leniency than the rest of us, on top of that. What brought that on, I'm not sure." He said the last with a motion towards his apartment, indicating the present argument as the 'that' he was referring to.

After a moment—and a slamming door echoing probably around most of the floor—Auryn asked slowly, "I thought Doriss joined long before you were caught?"

Kariya blinked, then gave a wry snort and said, "She did. People talk. Eonna and Terri are the two longest-running Turks besides Vincent, Verdot, and Anki, and this comes from them, since I once asked what would happen if Vincent got angry. They cited what they knew of the situation, and those were the only two times they saw him angry enough to behave like he just was with Tseng. Does that mean Vincent is right and you've been meeting with Doriss for some time?"

"Almost since you brought me here," the blond had to reply in faint amusement. Then, he blinked and commented, "That—trip—helped my mental state a lot more than I realized at first." When Kariya smiled, Auryn blinked again and said, "But if that's not common, I think there's a reason for it."

"Vincent gave it," the Turk replied with a quirked brow.

Shaking his head with a bit of a flinch, the younger man explained, "No, with the number of times I've met various Vincents, I know creating that sort of conflict over something minor—unless Tseng effectively betrayed the Turks, which is, frankly, impossible—just isn't something he would do. By nature, he doesn't like conflict, and he won't create it unless there's a really serious reason for him to do so."

"Too true," Vincent's voice came from behind Kariya, sounding amused. The other two turned to look at him to see him in the doorway to Kariya's apartment. When Kariya's jaw dropped, Vincent made a dismissing motion and said, "Now that I've set things in motion, we just need to see how they play out. And I'd appreciate it if you kept that tidbit to yourselves." His gaze then went to Auryn and he asked curiously, "Have you got a guess about what just happened?"

The blond noticed right away that, while the black haired Turk looked notably tired, he didn't look at all like someone who had been the kind of furious Vincent had supposedly been moments before.

Blinking, then blinking again, Auryn gaped, "You were never even angry at all!" When Vincent just gave him an amused look, the blond looked off to the side as he ran data through his mind, calculating what the argument may mean. There was only one actively valid reason which would account for Vincent's complete lack of anger. "You're trying to push Tseng over to the Hounds," he said bluntly. When Kariya looked at them both in horror and Vincent raised a questioning brow, the younger blond added, "Well, not permanently. It's more like giving him a valid reason to be going to them, so they'll accept him. It wouldn't work if it wasn't very real feeling on his part—he can't slip up an act if he doesn't realize it's a plot."

"But why would you do that, Vincent?" Kariya asked in shock, and even a bit of pain.

"Later, Kariya. For now, there's no problem, and no, Tseng won't be excluded from the Guards or any of what we do," the Director replied to Kariya's distress.

Auryn's gaze was on Vincent as he said as flatly, "None of this would be a problem if you'd all get your heads out of your asses and work together again."

The black haired man chuckled at the words, then said, "I'd like nothing better, believe me, Auryn. Right now, these sorts of games are about the only way to manage it. Verdot led me to believe there's actually a reason for it—something harmful to us if the divide were to disappear. I know the President is a control freak, so he may not be so far off the mark, either."

"There wouldn't be any reason for him to do anything to the Turks, whether we were split or not, though," Kariya frowned.

"Yeah...Kariya, you're saying that about a man who would rather destroy the world than let his power be even marginally usurped," Auryn told him flatly.

"Is that experience from your scenarios?" Vincent asked apprehensively. When the younger man nodded tentatively, he asked, "What happened, and how many times?"

Auryn flinched, but closed his eyes to count the number of times he knew the President had destroyed the world. Finally, he had the rough number and said, "Of the ones I know about, somewhere between fifteen and twenty times, usually by shattering it with bombs (1). A few times, he managed to go on a killing spree so massive in his paranoia that he triggered Omega. He may have done it more often, but I wouldn't know if I'd already died in scenarios where that was the fate of the Planet. I just know nothing I've done in those scenarios resulted in this world being saved."

Both men blinked at him in surprise, then Vincent frowned as Kariya's eyes widened in horror. "If that's true, the only thing saving us right now is this split, and letting Tseng cross the battle line will help. A lot. Having only Donnel and our spy isn't enough."

"What spy?" Kariya blinked. Vincent just gave him an amused look, and the orange haired man's lips quirked in amusement. "Sorry. Never mind." He then paused before asking, "So...you really weren't angry with Tseng?"

"No, not at all," the black haired man agreed. "In fact, the work he gave me—my actual copies, not the ones I presented earlier—were some of the best investigative work I've ever seen. If there's one thing to be said for Wutains, they're perfectionists."

"Fine—then how can you be sure he'll come back?" the other man asked with a small frown.

"Because I'm not the only one involved in this plot," Vincent smirked, then turned around to leave. He paused before walking away. "Anyway, you two can go about your usual day, and I'm off back to guard duty. Of course, she's going to be spending most of the day sleeping, so it'll be pretty damned boring." He sighed, then left.

For a couple minutes, both Kariya and Auryn just stared after him, then the older of the two sighed and said, "I guess that means we can eat now."

Before he could stop himself, Auryn chuckled.

FoWD

Tseng was absolutely furious.

Usually, Vincent was very mild mannered, easy-going, and open to finding out both (or all, depending on how many were involved) sides of the story. He investigated, but only rarely judged. To be told some of his best work had been—deliberately falsified—and for Vincent to not even hear him, was just too much. He knew he hadn't falsified anything—it had all been factual data he'd worked hard to track and hand in only after it had been verified. After triple-checking it, even! But for some reason, Vincent had gone from normal, friendly, open dealing with things, to sudden anger in the extreme—all of it based on Tseng supposedly having handed in something which would more appropriately have been called some child's fantasy!

Oh, Vincent had shown him the work. It had looked like his own writing, and had been done on what had looked like the same papers he'd handed to Vincent, but he knew he hadn't written any of what Vincent had shown him. He'd have thought Vincent would have realized that as well and begun investigating, even if he asked him if he had any idea what had happened. More likely, by his usual behavior, Vincent would have asked if he had a copy of the data, or if he could quickly reproduce it.

Though, he should probably be relieved he wasn't being accused of being a traitor by Vincent's behavior today.

In his rage, he stalked through the halls of Shinra Headquarters, no real destination or goal in mind, not even realizing until nearly noon that everyone who saw him was quickly diverting. He only became actively aware of it when he happened to notice a completely stunned pair of SOLDIER Commanders step out of his way to let him pass. More than anything, their deferral to him told him how angry he looked right then, like a tiger on the prowl, because SOLDIERs didn't back away from Turks the way Angeal and Genesis just had. Side-stepped them to avoid a collision, yes, but not backing well out of their way, as though afraid of them.

Then again, with his current mindset, bumping into someone would likely result in the person's death, even a SOLDIER—it was a known fact that Turks actually knew how to kill them.

Suddenly, he turned a corner—and ran right into someone. As he'd known he would, he reacted with a snarl and an attack to the invasion of his personal space, causing a yelp—and a sensation like his fist hitting a stone wall. He was nothing like calm, and the resistance just angered him further, causing him to lash out against said wall with all the force he could muster. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was aware he was attacking someone's Shield spell, and that the caster was a Turk who was staring at him in stunned amazement.

Right then, it didn't matter, as he lashed out over and over again—until he ran out of strength...and anger. At that point, he began collapsing, shaking with hurt and exhaustion as he did—and not caring who it was that caught him so he didn't hit the ground. It was probably the same Turk whose Shield he had been attacking, and if said Turk was willing to...well, take care of him, until he calmed down, he would take anything he could get right then. Just the fact that someone was sitting on the floor in the middle of one of the Shinra building halls with him was enough to break the dam on his tears, and while he could keep them silent, he couldn't stop them.

It just wasn't fair!

Though, saying such a thing in a world which wasn't fair showed far more naivete than any Turk should have been displaying. In his defense, Vincent had always been fair before then, so to be dealt a blow like that by Vincent hurt on a level he couldn't even begin to process.

He had no idea how long it took him to stop crying, but by the time he had, he was exhausted, had been left feeling oddly empty, and was capable of thinking again. With thought came awareness of his surroundings. He reached up to rub his eyes, then slowly sat back to find out who he'd just cried on—only to see Lakis. If he hadn't been so exhausted, he'd have been stunned, horrified, and embarrassed (and probably mortified, too), but as he was right then, all it meant was, 'Oh, that explains the Shield spell.' Lakis was, after all, their only Mage.

"How are you feeling?" Lakis asked, gaze worried.

Worried? About a Guard? What?

Giving his head a shake, Tseng muttered, "Don't know—still processing. Exhausted, though."

"I don't blame you—whatever set you off was serious enough to take down my Shield spell three times before you ran out of oomph. I'd never have thought that was even possible before now," Lakis commented, and Tseng blinked, realizing how much the incident had hurt.

"I thought Hounds hated Guards and would happily see us suffer?" the younger man asked tiredly. This was too much to try to process, even with his thought processes functioning again.

Lakis' lips quirked in faint amusement. "Is that what the Guards have been saying about us to their Rookies?" Tseng couldn't actively make sense of the words, and the older, brown haired man apparently realized that, so asked instead, "What happened?"

At the question, the Wutain couldn't stop his hurt and bitterness from showing through. "I was just accused of—falsifying data for a case, effectively telling stories and wasting Vincent's time. I did so many hours of work on that case I lost count before I was half-way done, and even you'd have been proud of the amount of research I'd put into it, but somehow, anything I had to say was completely irrelevant!" he spat, wrapping his arms around his body. If he hadn't already exhausted his supply of tears, he'd probably have begun crying again just then.

The other Turk's brown eyes widened in shocked horror, then he rose, quickly gathered his papers—they had fallen to the floor when the two Turks had run into one another—and offered a hand to Tseng. It was obviously doubling as a peace offering, and while part of him wondered what he was about to get himself into, wondered if he even should be getting himself into it, he was mostly just too tired to care. After a pause, he took the hand, let Lakis pull him to his feet, and allowed the older man to lead him away with an arm around his shoulders.

Admittedly, on the walk, he'd drifted into an absent daze, but it didn't prepare him to see the Turks' office—Hound territory—when he came out of it. It was Lakis pushing a plate of food into his hands which brought him back to awareness, causing him to grip the plate, then look around at where he was. One desk in the middle of the room held several dishes of food from a restaurant in the city—his plate had come from there—but it otherwise looked just the way he'd seen it the few other times he'd been there, though Verdot's office door was closed at the moment. He should have guessed Lakis would take him to their office.

Half the Hounds present were watching him with suspicion, but left him alone, so he—just kept his eyes on his food, not really able to process what he should be doing with it right then. And he didn't feel hungry. Peripheral vision let him observe the Hounds.

One was a new face, a blond young man who was probably the new trainee Vincent had told him about, code-named Quis. Though, Quis had only joined two days before and seemed somewhat puzzled, still obviously trying to figure out his place with the Turks—if he took well to the office environment, he'd likely be a Hound. Also present there, besides Lakis, were Judet, Derin, Cissnei, and Emma—the usual day shift—with Maur, Balto, and Alvis. Maur and Balto were the trainees' usual trainers, so were taking time out of their usual scheduled evening work to train them. Currently, they were probably planning an afternoon session, and were just waiting for their last young Rookie, Percia.

Someone suddenly sat beside him, making him blink and look up—to see Cissnei sitting there. "Lakis told us what happened to you," she said, her gaze sad as she looked at him. "I had also thought Vincent was more fair than what he did just then. Maybe I can't really speak for the others, but—I wouldn't mind if you hung out with us until he gets that stick out of his ass."

"Assuming he can even reach it," Emma snorted, sitting to Tseng's other side and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "I've missed you, you know. Having you around here will be like old times at the Academy—I'd like that."

"Don't get too familiar with a Guard," Balto called over to them in annoyance.

"Shut it, Balto," Emma retorted, sticking her tongue out at him. "I happen to miss one of my best friends, so I'll be as friendly with him as I want."

Balto rolled his eyes as Tseng's lips quirked a bit with amusement at Emma's declaration, then he looked down at his as-yet untouched plate. It was just strange sitting in their office without sneering or word games like he usually saw anywhere else, making him think both sides were...putting on a public act?

Emma tapped his shoulder with the hand attached to the arm wrapped around him, so he looked up at her. She pointedly motioned with her chin at his plate, clearly telling him to eat. If it was drugged or anything, he doubted she would encourage him to eat, as they'd spent nearly five years in classes together at the Academy and had been quite good friends—despite their current factions, he couldn't see her trying to harm him. As such, even though he didn't feel hungry just then, he obediently took a bite of the food on his plate, chewed slowly, and swallowed.

After a few moments, he suddenly realized he was ravenous. Less than three minutes later, he'd devoured everything on his plate and was still hungry, so hesitated for only a few moments before getting up and going to the desk to get more food. Emma cheerfully followed him with her 'I told you so smirk' on her face, which he ignored in his quest for more food, just as much as he ignored Derin frowning at him faintly from across the desk. His hunger level was higher than normal, he quickly realized as he emptied his plate a second time, still standing at the desk, and still felt he could eat more. It had toned down by then, so when he took his last helping, he could eat it more slowly.

It was then when he heard Balto say, "But there was no actual reason for them to have blown up a random cave in the southern Nibel Mountains. If anything, they should have blown up the one we found with the crafted stone-work Alvis found near the river."

"Obviously, we blew it up because it wasn't just 'a random cave'—it housed a stagnant Mako pool, the same one Doctors Valentine and Crescent investigated decades ago," Tseng told them bluntly, not particularly caring that he was betraying the Guards by saying it.

Balto and his three discussion partners, Maur, Judet, and Lakis, all turned to stare at him in shock before Lakis asked, "Is that really the case?"

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Tseng answered, "I was there—I helped blow it up. Of course I know what I was destroying."

"What's the difference between stagnant Mako and normal Mako?" Judet asked with a faint frown.

"Intensity, apparently. Any truth to Chaos and Omega Theory?" Lakis asked, gaze intent and curious, focused and highly interested in the reply Tseng would give.

"I know Chaos exists—Vincent is housing him," Tseng shrugged. "Yes, Hojo and the President know that. Omega and the rest of the Theory, I can't say anything about because we don't actually have proof of it to cite. The difference between Mako and stagnant Mako is the order of effect—with Mako, you get Mako poisoning, then potentially deformity, but with stagnant Mako, you effectively instantly become a Makonoid, and only if you survive the rapid deformity would you actually get Mako poisoning. And it takes far less stagnant Mako to get the effect than it takes of regular Mako, either manufactured or natural."

Everyone stared at him in shock for a minute before Derin asked, "How do you know those kinds of details about the two kinds of Mako?"

"You can thank our new stray," the Wutain answered. He ignored them trading glances and went back to eating.

"What about the crafted stone-work in the cave near the river there?" Judet finally asked, gaze puzzled, like she was trying to figure him out.

"Apparently, a Mage with an earth-based affinity can remodel stone and soil to whatever shape they want it to be, though it takes 'materials' to do it—they can't create a stone plate out of thin air, the stone forming it has to come from somewhere. As it so happens, Auryn is quite a skilled Mage with an earth affinity," Tseng shrugged again.

"...Seriously? You're betraying the Guards in a fit of temper?" Cissnei blinked as she stepped up to the table to peer at him worriedly.

"I'm actually perfectly calm right now," he told her dryly. "It's more along the line that I don't really care right now—they deserve worse than these little, minor bits of data being shared, especially since I'm pretty sure word has reached at least some of you about some of Auryn's quirks."

"I knew he was a Mage at Genesis' level," Balto admitted with a faint sigh. "I didn't actually realize how important that detail was before now, though."

The door to Verdot's office opened suddenly and a smiling Percia stepped out—only to stop and stare in shock as she asked, "Tseng? What are you doing here?"

"Tseng?" Verdot's voice came from in the office, sounding surprised. A moment later, he appeared behind Percia in the doorway. He then blinked and asked, "What happened?"

All Tseng bothered to do was make a disgusted face and go back to his meal, so Lakis explained, including a mention of the data Tseng had offered to them. Percia's eyes were as wide as saucers as she shook her head in disbelief, but Verdot made his way to Tseng's side and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Join me in my office. It seems we have a lot to discuss."

"We do?" the Wutain Turk blinked, looking up at the older man in surprise.

Verdot's gaze became amused as he asked, "Have you forgotten that you're the only registered replacement for either Vincent or myself?" Many pairs of eyes widened at the revelation, though Tseng just blinked. "Vincent hasn't given you a chance to explore actual command, has he?" When Tseng just gave his head a small shake, Verdot nodded. "That needs to change. As things stand, if Vincent won't give you that training—and is apparently not fond of you right now on top of it—it's in everyone's best interests if you start learning. What better place than here and now?"

Several jaws dropped as Derin protested, "But he's a Guard!"

Meeting Derin's gaze, Verdot asked, "Is that why he just gave you information previously exclusive to the Guards, some of it limited to a small number even of them?" Silence fell, so Verdot returned his gaze to Tseng and said, "I leave the decision to you to join me or not—though I do hope you will." He then turned and went back to his office, shooing Percia out of the way of the door as he did.

For a minute, Tseng just stared after him, then sought out Emma's gaze. She smiled and told him, "You've been complaining for a year about how you feel like you're not getting anywhere with the Guards. Maybe it is time for you to step away from them."

His gaze moved to the others, searching—and quickly found that the worst he saw from any of the other Hounds was the same kind of uncertainty he'd seen when any other new and unknown commander was being put in charge. If he'd seen anger, suspicion, hatred, or jealousy, he may have flat-out refused, as it would have meant he would never be seen as a trusted commander, but now...

It really was an opportunity he couldn't pass up, and he now knew he effectively had the approval of over half the Hounds.

Giving Emma a nod, he put his plate down and turned to head for Verdot's office.

Notes:

(1) No, this doesn't include the first dimension, because Ed never knew how that one ended up destroyed. Only the readers know that fact, and the characters who went to Spira in FoW. In FoWD, the cutoff was before Tseng and the others who'd had a visual on the destruction could share their observations with anyone else. The same would be true of SH—the bombs were still there, but Eden didn't know about it until well after it had been resolved, which wasn't while he was at Fuhito's lab in the north.