NOTE: THIS CHAPTER WAS POSTED AT THE SAME TIME AS CHAPTER 52. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE READ CHAPTER 52 FIRST.


Tseng

Tseng, head of the Department of Administrative Research, alias Turks. This was the final, closing report on the Nibelheim incident, year 0007.

Our department was issued an order to pursue two research samples that had escaped from a Shinra facility. The samples were two fully grown males. One of them was an expert in combat, who was once ranked as a SOLDIER first class...

I placed my pen down gently against the edge of the report, standing up from behind the desk and focusing myself. It was oddly difficult to continue my report past that point. I had been involved with those two individuals, the targets, ever since that incident that occurred approximately five years ago. I took a sip from a cup of black coffee and turned to the window overlooking a small empty street and a bridge that a train was passing under at the time.

I had never regretted following my orders to pursue the targets. The only regret I had was that I hadn't found them first. When the order was issued to the Turks, it was sent to the army as well. It seemed evident that at least certain members of the infantry had qualms about the Turks and the special missions we received. Due to the nature of some of those missions, the infantry believed that we were taking jobs from them and earning more money to do so. That order hadn't been the first time that the army had tried to best the Turks, but as fate would have it, it was the first time that they succeeded at it.

I took another sip from the coffee and turned back to the desk to flip through the previous pages in the report, scanning the names and photos of the operatives involved. I had called a meeting back when I read the order, to inform every member of the Turks about our duty to track the escaped samples; Zack Fair and Cloud Strife. However, against the directives I'd received, I told them all to bring the targets back alive. Every Turk, although under the employment of Shinra, had more loyalty to the department than to the company, and I had loyalties of my own. I wasn't comfortable with letting the company execute a friend who hadn't even committed a crime.

The Turks split into groups and took helicopters to various locations around the Midgar area, where the targets had been last sighted. There was a point at which two operatives of the Turks made contact with Zack Fair. He appeared to be alone, and fled the area on a stolen motorcycle. Shortly afterward, he disappeared into the underground passageway that would have taken him directly into Midgar. Several operatives took point in the tunnels ahead and at the various exits, but none made further contact with the target. Later investigation showed that he may have escaped the tunnel through a damaged portion of the ceiling.

I touched my pen back down to the paper, scrawling the next line of the report before retaking my seat. As I considered my actions back on that day, I knew there was nothing I could have done any differently. I had units stationed at every likely position to find Zack, and helicopters keeping eyes on the grasslands and rocky mountains. Zack, however, lived up to his name as a SOLDIER first class and managed to continue to elude both the Turks and the Shinra army alike; that is, until that final hour. I turned my eyes down and continued to write.

At approximately twenty past two in the afternoon, the army reported Zack Fair's position in the hills just outside Midgar. He had hitchhiked a ride with an unknowing civilian arriving from the farms near Kalm. The civilian took no direct damage from gunfire, but the truck in his possession may have been damaged. It was at that time that Zack Fair abandoned the vehicle and took cover in the rocks, revealing himself moments later. As reported by the army, Zack resisted arrest and became hostile, therefore return fire was necessary. I placed the pen down and held it firmly against the table, fighting against my own anger toward the army and their pettiness. It was in the order that if the army were to locate Zack Fair, they were to report his position and keep a lock on him until the Turks arrived. It was only as a last resort that gunfire was supposed to be used on a SOLDIER that close to the city, but as I understood it, it was the army that acted first. However, since Zack's escape from the Nibelheim facility and even the very fact that he was alive was at that time top secret information, there were no questions nor punishments for this deviation from orders. As it was, the army open-fired on Zack Fair, and he fought back. It hadn't been long after the report on Zack's position when I climbed into a helicopter and started out myself, but by the time that I arrived, I was too late. I slowly touched the tip of the pen back down on the page. The wounds sustained by ex-SOLDIER first class, Zack Fair, during his resist, were reported fatal. This was the final report and the closing of the case-file on the Nibelheim incident, and Zack's death had been registered both publicly and officially.

Eyes shut, I closed the file with the palm of my hand, standing again from my seat. When I opened my eyes, they found the bundle of letters I still kept at my desk. They were from her, the one I told Zack that I would look after, the one I'd been looking after for years. Eighty-eight letters, containing everything she wanted to say to him but couldn't. It brought me pain to resist telling Aerith that Zack was alive. As she watched the years pass by, she continued to wait for him, always knowing that he hadn't given up on her. I never knew how she knew, but Aerith never suspected anything other than that Zack was in trouble. I heard her pray for him as I watched sometimes. Sometimes it was prayer, and sometimes it was almost like a conversation. One time, I heard her say something about a boy, and how she wished she could have met him. It was always very strange to watch Aerith, because she spent most of her time alone, but she would still talk, and she never seemed too unhappy. Though even through her smile, I had seen her cry.

My attention was drawn away from the letters as the door to the room came open. I knew who it was who walked in, even before I saw his red hair. Even many of the higher-ups in Shinra would have had the courtesy to knock, but such manner generally escaped Reno. He was dressed his usual way, jacket open and shirt loose a few buttons. Reno always carried himself in a way that seemed very unfit for a Turk, rather clumsily and prone to letting his emotions get the better of him. However, he was very good at his job, and he was very loyal. He turned his eyes to me after a quick glance over the room, putting one hand up to greet me before resting it on the back of his neck.

"Hey, boss," he said, pointing his arm towards the desk. "Finally finishing that report?"

"Yes." I nodded my head, taking my hand off the binder. "I've just written the last of it."

"Whew." Reno sighed, taking a few more steps in my direction. "That has got to be the longest time you've ever taken to finish a job." I shook my head.

"Not the longest." I looked back to the letters on the desk, and I really wasn't sure if Reno knew what I was talking about, but he said nothing else about it. Just a moment later, Reno's common partner in the Turks, Rude, came into the room, and I would have expected him to knock.

"Rude!" Reno laughed a bit, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "I thought you were still sulking over that poker game?" Rude made a noise like a grunt, adjusting his sunglasses and turning his head to me.

"Guess who woke up?" he said, and Reno stopped snickering. I had to admit, my heart felt like it jumped a bit too when I heard his words, for they were not what I expected.

I said nothing, but moved past Reno and Rude and into the next room over. It was a bit of a crude set-up: not too much space, a couch and a table pushed into a corner together, and cards scattered over the floor in what was presumably a poker game gone sour. The room had one window, but the shades were closed at all times. I looked on at the last thing in the room, a small hospital bed accompanied by some basic supplies, and the man laying on top, who smiled back at me.

"It's nice to finally see you again," I said, finding a smile of my own. "Good-morning, Zack."