Entanglement

Kunsel did not limit his socialising to engaging with his fellow SOLDIERs and chatting with the civilians living above the Plate. In fact, on alternate Saturdays he snuck out of his apartment in clothing that looked similar to -but wasn't quite- Wutaian national dress, put on brown contact lenses in a public bathroom to hide the Mako glow in his irises and visited a sake bar in Sector Two in the slums. Half of the area of Sector Two under the Plate had been swallowed by what the locals called 'little Wutai', packed full of war refugees and orphaned children whose appearance gave away heritage that caused them to be discriminated against by those outside the Sector.

The SOLDIER's drinking partner on these outings was his only fellow Wutaian within the Public Safety Maintenance Department, a man called Tseng. Kunsel didn't hold the quiet, tilak-marked half-Wutaian's profession against him; the Turks were quite probably the only department of ShinRa prepared to hire people with their kind of ethnic background since the war got going.

In contrast to Kunsel's treacle-slow rise through the SOLDIER program Tseng's ascent within the Investigative Division of General Affairs had been positively meteoric: Only three years ago he'd been a rookie and now he was second in command of the entire department, answering only to Veld, who headed the Turks. Tseng was also the main public interface for ShinRa's blue-suited enforcers; Veld preferred to work from the shadows and met only with other Turks, the President and a few of the board members. Tseng on the other hand had regular meetings with Reeve Tuasti of the Urban Development Department, Director Lazard of SOLDIER and professor Hojo, patrolled the streets of Sector Eight with the lower-ranking Turks and was fairly easy to find within the ShinRa building when he wasn't out on a specific mission.

However, despite his ever-lengthening list of responsibilities, Tseng still made time on every other Saturday to meet up with the SOLDIER who'd welcomed him into the company with a smile and the offer of a drink in a quiet sake bar where wrinkled old men held conversations in the complex tonal language only the Wutai spoke and half the patrons pretended politely that they weren't really eavesdropping on the two young men who came in to drink and talk about current affairs. Nobody in the bar cared what they did for a living, only that they were among the most personally successful Wutai in the entire city and had access to information that would otherwise take weeks to percolate down to Sector Two. In deference to this tolerance Kunsel always started the conversation with the latest unclassified news from the front while Tseng covered the economic, social and criminal highlights the Turks had picked up from the besieged continent.

In exchange for this up-to-date news from their homeland the two ShinRa employees got a quiet place to drink real sake away from the eyes of the Company and all the privacy they could possibly desire as soon as the unofficial news bulletin was finished. Typically this prompted the two men to switch the discussion over from business to personal as soon as they'd finished talking about Wutai.

"Have you managed to spend more time with the woman you mentioned meeting in The Underground yet?" Tseng asked about half an hour into their chat, sipping his sake with a steady hand. Turks got Mako shots as well; not enough to give their eyes the distinctive Mako glow but quite enough to grant a decent resistance to alcohol.

"I've had two dates with her so far," Kunsel replied with a giddy smile. For all her exhibitionism in the cage and on the dance floor Draculina was actually a very quiet and private person. The SOLDIER had coaxed her out to dinner in a fancy restaurant and another time to see a production of LOVELESS, both of which had been successful in helping him get to know her better and gain greater insight into her personal quirks. He had however not learnt a single thing about her rumoured connection to Sephiroth, if it even existed. Not one of his gentle hints or leading questions could coax so much as a word out of her to either confirm or deny the existence of other family members. Not that he would stop trying; she clearly enjoyed the careful dance of words and meanings as much as he did and the second-class had no intention of ending the game any earlier than he had to. Draculina was fun.

"Do you know her name yet?" Tseng asked, a sly gleam in his eye animating his usually bland face.

Kunsel grinned, unruffled. "Yes I do indeed! Lillith Valentine, of those Valentines. An adorably competent heiress, is my little vampire. She prefers to be called Draculina though."

At the mention of 'Valentine' Tseng had paused with his sake dish in mid-air. "How old is she?"

Kunsel shrugged. "Somewhere between eighteen and twenty-eight? It's hard to tell. Why?"

"Veld's original partner in the Turks was called Vincent and something of a legend; better by far even than Veld and had a perfect record," Tseng said softly. "He was a Valentine, one of those Valentines. He's reported to have died in a laboratory accident in Nibelheim twenty-three years ago, supposedly the last Valentine other than a half-uncle who died a decade ago and never gained control of the family money."

"What did this Vincent look like?" Kunsel asked, curious.

Tseng smiled wryly. "Tallish and slender with messy black hair and blood-red eyes."

Kunsel whistled. "Sounds very like Draculina. Especially if he had red eyes; that can't be very common. Perhaps she's his daughter."

"If so he did an impeccable job hiding her and her mother from the Company," Tseng mused. "As it is a possibility I'll have to inform Veld; it's Turk business, you understand."

"Just in case this Vincent isn't as dead as he was reported to be," Kunsel agreed. "I know how it is. But what the hell was the company's best Turk doing to have died in a lab accident in Nibelheim of all places? There's nothing there!"

"Professor Hojo was working on a project up there with the late professor Gast," Tseng said neutrally.

"Hojo?" Kunsel paused, a nasty little suspicion crossing his mind. "Did anyone actually check the guy was dead or did they take Hojo's word for it? Because Sephiroth's almost twenty-three and he looks spookily similar to my Draculina."

"No further investigations were made," Tseng murmured distantly, "and I would have to verify the resemblance for myself before drawing conclusions."

"Hm." The second-class changed the subject. "Any idea why Genesis of all people would defect? He loved being a hero and getting all the attention. Just leaving the Company like that isn't his style."

The Turk pinned his friend with a neutral stare. "We were informed that the Crimson General had broken into a secure laboratory and stolen equipment, weapons and a large number of specimens. Casualties among SOLDIERs guarding the facility were very high. Several thefts from the ShinRa archives in the same time-frame lead us to believe that the project interests Genesis and his allies in some way, though we have not been informed of the project's nature or possible reasons for his interest. "

"Odd." What kind of project was too classified for Turks? "No SOLDIERs have died in the past two months other than five out in Wutai and one idiot who let a Midgar zolom get the drop on him," Kunsel idly told the Turk sat opposite him.

Tseng looked troubled. "Keep your head down, Kunsel. The President is highly irate with Genesis and SOLDIER in general at the moment. Whatever this 'secure laboratory' really was, it fell under his personal oversight."

"I will," Kunsel promised. "You take care as well Tseng."

The Turk inclined his head politely, finished his sake and left the dingy bar. The second-class lingered a little longer over his drink, pondering what he'd learnt.

Draculina was quite possibly the daughter of a Turk, an infamous Turk who might not be as dead as he seemed.

Genesis had somehow discovered and raided a top secret ShinRa project, one apparently operated by SOLDIERs who did not exist in the official system.

Kunsel sighed and set about writing an email to Zack. He suspected that Cloud's absence from the ShinRa building meant the blond had somehow gotten himself shipped out to Wutai, which his friend should be able to confirm for him.

He'd also heard yesterday that Angeal of all people had gone AWOL, which was just weird. The Dark General didn't have a dishonourable bone in his body.

What the hell was going on at the moment? Was everyone going mad? Kunsel had the distinct feeing he was out of the loop on something big, which really, really bugged him. He was the loop, dammit!

He could always email Cloud. Perhaps he knew something.

Kunsel and Tseng have a quiet drink together and discuss things. Information changes hands and new investigations are initiated.

And a little more info on Vincent's social life, since she won't talk to me about it at all.